A fairly placid market

Compared to the excessive prices in the field of modern and contemporary art, the market for old masters seems to be fairly placid judging by the results of the January sales in New York. It’s a far cry from the sales in the hundreds of millions and seasons of several billion. The market for Rubens, Goya and Van Dyck is evolving slowly but surely, as the head of the old masters department at Christie’s François de Porteere confirms: “We have recorded seven new records this season and our biggest results in ten years.”

At Christie’s

The sales at Christie’s – which has re-established its auctions in January 2023 in New York – brought in a total of 62.7 million dollars while Sotheby’s made 95.1 million. The fundamental change is due to the fact that, as the private Parisian dealer Etienne Bréton explains, “demand is now completely global, reaching as far as China.” Sotheby’s (who did not respond to our request for an interview) highlighted the action of bidders from 18 countries and François de Porteere even noted the presence of an Indian buyer with conjointly the total absence of Russians “who had a certain weight in the market, even a decade ago.”

Influential buyer

Among the influential buyers right now there is talk of Steve A. Schwartzman, whose fortune ranks 79^th in the world according to Forbes and who is the CEO of Blackstone, the mega private investment firm. His centre of interest is French 18^th-century painting. He bought a huge residence in Newport allegedly for 27 million dollars in 2021. Built in 1912 in a French style it has been renovated by French interior design duo Joseph Achkar and Michel Carrière, whose recent work in the same vein stood out at the Hôtel de la Marine on the Place de la Concorde.

Remarkable results

Here are a few remarkable results from the January sales in New York

Peter- Paul Rubens (1577-1640): 24.7 million euros

Peter Paul Rubens

“Prioritize strong subjects,” observes Parisian dealer Maurizio Canesso. And Rubens is one of the champions of the violent, raw image. The Anvers master always brings in the big bucks, provided that the paintings are actually made by him, because as is shown at his studio in Anvers, which can still be visited, at the height of his career he used to employ numerous hands to produce prolifically. Rubens is among the highest-ranking in terms of old masters prices, of course behind the highly controversial Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci (which sold for 450 million dollars) ( See here and here stories about the Salvador Mundi).

The record price for the master amounted to 77.1 million euros in 2002 with his extraordinary, and cruel, canvas “The Massacre of the Innocents”. In a neighbouring vein, on 26 January 2023 Sotheby’s presented a “Salome holding the head of John the Baptist” with an estimate of 23 million euros, a colossal sum within the range of standard prices in the field. The work was made during the early stages of the Flemish painter’s career and attained 24.7 million euros. It was discovered in France in 1987 by the French dealer Charles Bailly, who sold it in 1998 in New York for the equivalent of 5.1 million euros. It is the biggest sale of the season. It features John the Baptist with an athletic physique, on the ground and tied up. There are cascades of blood because his head has been severed. Salome is surrounded by a group, holding it out to her as a trophy on a platter. A sign of the times, the work belonged to a major modern art collector, the Las Vegas businessman Steve Wynn.

Bronzino (1503-1572). 9.8 million euros

Bronzino

If it were necessary to demonstrate the low prices (compared to those in 20^th-century art) practised in the field of the old masters, this Bronzino is an excellent example. According to the Artprice database only 12 paintings by Bronzino have appeared at auction since the late 1980s. This rare painter from the Tuscan Renaissance, the high point of art history, was the portraitist of the Florentine court, famous for his humanist depictions showcasing the virtues of his subjects.

The young man who Sotheby’s wants to possibly evoke as a self-portrait stands against a deep green background. He holds a pen and points to a piece of paper on which is written a maxim in Latin. It holds the record price for the artist. The painting is not only a discovery – for a long time it was misattributed – it is also the produce of looting during the Second World War, sold by the legitimate heirs for charitable works. Its state of conservation is good and its attribution does not seem to pose problems since, for example, it featured in the exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 2021: “Medici: portraits and politics, 1512-1570”.

Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641) 2.8 million euros

Sir Anthony van Dyck

The power of the image… The painting from the first period of the Flemish painter who ended his career at the London court is heart-wrenching. The subject is a naked old man, his flesh sagging, in a stricken pose in front of the viewer. The realism of the model shines out. The work served as a study for a more sophisticated painting of Saint Jerome at the Boijmans van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam. As though echoing the old man’s dejection, this wood panel painting seems to be in a state of disrepair, it looks tired and worn out, with a barely discernible background. In the past it would have been highly unlikely to find a buyer. On 26 January it sold for 2.8 million euros; a million higher than the estimate.

Artemisia Gentileschi (circa 1593-1654). 693 000 euros

Artemisia Gentileschi

“Not a week goes by when I don’t receive a request from a museum, often American, with a considerably budget, to acquire a work painted by a woman,” says Etienne Bréton. Institutions are keen to make up for the historical errors of art history and women painters are the subject of significant one-upmanship. Artemisia, with her dramatic personal history, the fight for recognition and her powerful style, seems to be one of the heroines of today.

 Beyonce of art history

A superstar since her exhibition at the National Gallery in London in 2020, among other things – the BBC called her the Beyonce of art history – this daughter of a painter, from the Caravaggisti school, is the subject of strong demand and a limited supply. According to Artprice, 47 of her works have been sold since 1989, with a record price set at Artcurial in France in 2019 for a painting depicting Lucretia about to stab herself, which sold for 4.7 million euros (bought by The Getty). Christie’s presented a painting by her on 25 January 2023 which is perhaps too posed: a portrait of a man. According to François de Porteere the fact that the work had already been presented at Sotheby’s in 2020 without finding a taker constituted a handicap.

Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) 16.4 million euros

Francisco de Goya

Goya is one of the most highly regarded and celebrated old masters in the eyes of contemporary art. Incidentally the Beyeler foundation, which ordinarily focuses on the 20^th and 21^st century, dedicated a remarkable retrospective to him in 2022 (See the report about the exhibition here).

The Spanish painter’s genius is celebrated among other things for his double painting at the Prado, La Maja desnuda and La Maja vestida, depicting a coy figure who first appears fully clothed, then nude. Christie’s proposed another pair of paintings by Goya this season, which were much more sober but which obtained the record price for the artist. An excellent state of conservation, a painting from a private collection. A mother with unfortunate looks and her pretty progeny. It’s the kind of story that the market likes.