New York City.- Sotheby’s New York sale of 19th Century European Art on 4 November 2011 presents rare opportunities for collectors across diverse collecting categories. The sale is a showcase for the best of the eclectic artistic styles that flourished throughout the 19th century. Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s “A Spring Festival (On the Road to the Temple of Ceres)”, from The Forbes Collection, and “Education of the Children of Clovis (School of Vengeance, Training of Clotilde’s Sons)”, his most accomplished early work of a Merovingian subject, highlight the sale. Other masterpieces in the sale from the Victorian and Edwardian period include works by Edward Robert Hughes, John William Godward and Charles Burton Barber.
Within the impressive range of six works in the sale by French painter Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, “Ronde d’Amours; Lever du Soleil” is exceptional, as is “Mantes, les bords de la Seine au pied du pont”. Important paintings by William Bouguereau from all periods of his career are also prominent features in this sale. Additional highlights of the November sale are Louis Béroud’s “Les joies de l’inondation (dans la galerie Médici)”, a fantastical depiction of an artist sitting in the Louvre and copying a painting from Peter Paul Rubens’s Marie de’ Medici cycle; “La Tireuse de Cartes (The Fortune Teller)”, Jehan Georges Vibert’s masterfully painted satirical portrait of two cardinals being entertained by a fortune teller in their opulent chambers; Jean-François Raffaëlli’s “Princess Street, Edinburgh”, a rare impression from the artist’s time spent in Scotland while he visited his friend, Alexander Reid, the celebrated Scottish gallerist. Sporting art in the sale will be led by a group of seven works from Collection of Edward P. Evans, sold to benefit the Edward P. Evans Foundation and including John Frederick Herring Sr.’s “Preparing to Start for the Doncaster Gold Cup”.
Sotheby’s was founded in London on March 11, 1744, when Samuel Baker auctioned “several Hundred scarce and valuable books” from the library of the Rt Hon Sir John Stanley for a few hundred pounds. The story of Sotheby’s expansion beyond books to include the best in fine and decorative arts and jewellery is also the story of the global auction market, defined by extraordinary moments that continue to capture the world’s attention. Since 1744, Sotheby’s has distinguished itself as a leader in the auction world. Their auctions, conducted in the venerable salerooms in London and Paris, the museum-quality galleries of their headquarters in New York and the spirited environs of Hong Kong rivet audiences worldwide.
Season after season, the depth and excellence of Sotheby’s offerings have produced watershed, record-breaking sales. Sotheby’s has been entrusted with the sale of many of the world’s treasures, amongst them: Napoleon’s St Helena library, the Duchess of Windsor’s jewels, the Estate of Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Rembrandt’s Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer, Rubens’ Massacre of the Innocents, Pablo Picasso’s Garçon à la Pipe, Francis Bacon’s Triptych, 1976, The Grand Ducal Collections of Baden, the Qianlong Yellow-Ground Famille-Rose Double-Gourd Vase, the 5,000-year-old Guennol Lioness, Giacometti’s L’Homme Qui Marche I, the Magna Carta, the first printing of the Declaration of Independence and The Martin Luther King Jr Collection. Sotheby’s has long recognised that great works of art, as well as the collectors interested in consigning and acquiring them, inhabit the global sphere. They were the first international auction house to expand from London to New York in 1955, and the first to conduct sales in Hong Kong and the then–Soviet Union. Today they maintain 90 locations in 40 countries and they conduct 250 auctions each year in over 70 categories. In addition to their four principal salerooms, the company, recognising the potential in new markets, also conducts auctions in six other salerooms around the world, further expanding its global reach. Visit the auction house’s website at … http://www.sothebys.com