New York City.- Bonhams is excited to announce its sale of European Paintings, October 26th in New York, simulcast to San Francisco. The sale will feature a wide range of paintings spanning several centuries and artistic periods. The sale is led by works from the 19th century and highlighting the group is “The Trysting Place” by British painter John William Godward, one of the most significant painters of the classical revival (est. $200,000-300,000). In this work, a woman finds a note from her lover at their secret rendezvous place. Sorry to have missed him, she responds by drawing a heart on the edge of a pilaster. Unique to the artist’s oeuvre, this work is considered an “answer painting” to his earlier oil of 1906, “Au Rendezvous.” True to his goal of portraying peace and feminine beauty, this painting is an ideal representation of his artistic aesthetic.
Another significant 19th century highlight of the sale comes from Romanian artist Nicolae Grigorescu. “The Bull Cart,” featuring day-to-day peasant life with the backdrop of a rural landscape, is only the second known painting by the artist to come to public auction in the West (est. $100,000-150,000), making it a piece of great interest among Romanian collectors. After abandoning the idea of becoming an academic painter and leaving the studio of Sebastien Cornu in Paris, Grigorescu was greatly influenced by numerous French painters in the village of Barbizon, near the Forest of Fontainebleau. It was there that he was influenced by Jean-Francois Millet’s renderings of working peasants, Corot’s trees and Troyon’s animals. Discovering his appreciation and love of the simple lives of peasants, he started to paint en plein air, developing his own language for landscapes, which made him a role model for future generations of artists. Grigorescu is considered today to be the founder of modern Romanian painting. It has been in private hands for over 50 years. A household name in Romania, Grigorescu continues to gain recognition in the West. Bonhams is thrilled to introduce his work to a wider audience.” Three other highlights in the 19th Century section of the sale include: French artist Joseph Garibaldi’s “The Old Port of Marseilles,” which depicts the port of his native city, a popular subject throughout his career (est. $75,000-100,000); German artist Franz von Stuck’s “A Portrait of Marianne Mechler,” a strong example of the artistic style of portraying sensuous females for which the artist is known (est. $60,000-80,000); and “A Still Life with Peaches, Grapes and Hazelnuts” by German artist Johann Wilhelm Preyer, one of the most important German still-life painters of the 19th century (est. $30,000-50,000).
Works of note in the Old Master section of the sale include “A Venetian Veduta with Strolling Figures” by Italian artist Francesco Albotto (est. $25,000-35,000). Several variants of this composition are known to exist; one being in the Museo del Castello Sforzesco, Milan, but the present work differs in some details from the other variations, making it a draw for collectors. A second Old Master highlight comes from the hand of Cornelis Kick, an Amsterdam artist and Dutch Golden Age painter who was trained by his father. Known for his flower pieces, the present painting, “A Still Life with Roses, an Iris, a Tulip and Other Flowers in a Vase resting on a Ledge,” is an ideal example of the artist’s work (est. $15,000-20,000). In the Sporting section of the sale, one can find James Ward’s “Sir Richard Sutton’s Chestnut Hunter” (est. $12,000-18,000). Known for his animal portraits, James Ward’s oil on panel painting depicts the horse of the avid sportsman Sir Richard Sutton, the man some say had no equal when it came to hunting and shooting. Edwin Lord Weeks’ “An Egyptian Caravan” leads the Orientalist section of the auction. Lord Weeks is one of the most distinguished and celebrated painters among American Orientalists. He showed an interest in painting and travel from a young age while growing up in Boston. Though exact details of his extensive travels are not well documented, the bulk of the artist’s oeuvre tends to reflect his later travels to India and the Middle East, which is what makes this present work highly sought after. The painting depicts a camel caravan en route along the pyramids of Teti, and illustrates Weeks’ skill for capturing majestic scenes possibly executed onsite or drawn from his archive of sketches. Another highlight in the Orientalist section of the sale comes from the French artist Georges Washington. “Arab soldiers at an Oasis” is an oil on canvas depicting mounted traveling soldiers resting at a small body of water within a vast landscape under a bright blue sky (est. $20,000-30,000).
During 2005, Bonhams continued to expand its presence in the USA and acquired a new saleroom on Madison Avenue in New York. The company also expanded further in Europe with the opening of the Paris office in June 2005. In October 2005, Bonhams gained full independence after buying back a 49.9% stake held by French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH. In 2005 Bonhams magazine was launched. Published quarterly, the magazine feature articles written by curators, dealers, valuers, and also art critics such as Matthew Collings and Brian Sewell. In 2007 Bonhams opened an office in Dubai as part of a joint venture with the family of former Ambassador to the UK Mohammed Madhi Al Tajir. The first sale held in Dubai on 3rd March 2008 was of Modern & Contemporary Arab, Iranian, Indian & Pakistani Art, and achieved total sales of over US$13million – almost three times the expected amount. Bonhams opened a new office in Hong Kong in 2007, to further support its expansion into the Asian market. The business in Hong Kong works with clients in mainland China, Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia and Singapore. In March 2008, Bonhams New York moved to new salerooms on the corner of 57th Street and Madison Avenue – formerly the home of the respected Dahesh Museum. The inaugural sale featured 20th century furniture and decorative arts. By 2007 Bonhams sales totalled US $600million. In 2009 Bonhams announced that it has taken market leadership in ten key areas of the UK art market for the first time. The company now dominates the following specialist areas in the UK: Antiquities, Arms & Armour, Design Prior to 1945, Ceramics, Clocks, Glass, Jewellery, Japanese Art, Miniatures and Watches. During 2009 these departments all sold more by value in the UK than any competing auction house. With Christie’s, Bonhams is a shareholder in the London-based Art Loss Register, a privately-owned database used by law enforcement services worldwide to trace and recover stolen art. Visit the auction house’s website at ... http://www.bonhams.com