LONDON.- There was enthusiasm and optimism among participants as the inaugural London Art Week drew to a close on Friday 5th July. A high number of visits from international museums was reported, including The Louvre; The Metropolitan Museum; The J Paul Getty Museum; The Art Institute of Chicago; Timken Museum, San Diego; Cleveland Museum of Art; The National Gallery; The Wallace Collection and The British Museum. Many also reported large numbers of private collectors drawn to London during a week of heightened art market activity. This was the first year that Master Drawings and Sculpture Week united with Master Paintings Week to form London Art Week, that and the well-received inclusion of sculpture dealers led to a very successful event.

Daniel Katz reported a “great footfall overall”, with two significant sales being a German, 17th-century ivory relief of Saint Sebastian and an Italian, 16th-century bronze Bust of Emperor Vitellius, both of which sold for around £100,000.

Emanuel von Baeyer sold the drawing of Annerl (1886) by Gustav Klimt (1862 –1918), which had received much attention in the press and from collectors. In general, von Baeyer reported, “a lot of interest from both private buyers and museums”, a sentiment which chimes with that of Alexandra Toscano of Trinity Fine Art who enjoyed a “huge response from museums and private buyers.” Sales at Trinity Fine Art included a Seated Figure of a Slave from the Ginori Factory, Doccia circa 1760-70 and a bronze figure of Bacchus and a Panther that was attributed to Barthélemy Prieur (1536-1611) which both sold to the same private collector.

Stephen Ongpin sold seven drawings, two of which were to new clients, and two of which were to museums. One of his significant sales was The Annunciation to the Shepherds, 1833, a watercolour by John Martin (1789-1854), which sold for £45,000. Drawn at the height of the artist’s success, this lovely, refined work appears to be the only surviving depiction of this Biblical composition in an upright format, as all the other versions of the subject by the artist are horizontal in orientation.

Tomasso Brothers reported good sales including a late 18th-century English ecorche bronze figure after Michael Henry Spang and a pair of Venetian bronzes of Venus Marina and Vulcan, circa 1590, by Tiziano Aspetti (1559-1606).

C. G. Boerner, whose discovery of the Foljambe collection of important Old Master drawings caused excitement in the lead-up to London Art Week, was happy to report that a black and red chalk work by Jacob Jordaens (1593 – 1678) from the collection, entitled, The Birth of the Virgin, c. 1670, sold to an American private collector. Among other notable sales was Annibale Carracci’s (1560-1609) Study for a Putto, c. 1597 or later, which was bought by an American Institution.

The next edition of London Art Week will take place from 27thJune – 4th July 2014