NEW YORK, NY.- Today’s sale of 19th Century European Art brought a strong total of $15,366,125, within its pre-sale estimate of $13.8/20 million. Nearly 90% of works sold today achieved prices at or above their pre-sale estimates. Six bidders battled for the top lot, Spanish master Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida’s Buscando mariscos, Playa de Valencia, which soared above its estimate of $1/1.5 million, achieving $4,869,000.

Polly Sartori, Senior Vice President, Head of Department, 19th Century European Art, noted, “From the moment that Buscando mariscos came through Sotheby’s headquarters this summer, we knew it was going to generate tremendous excitement. Today we set the record for a Sorolla sold at auction in America, and this is the third highest price ever paid for the artist at auction. Interest in this Spanish master is at an all-time high, as we are on the eve of the blockbuster exhibition “Sorolla and America” at the Meadows Museum in Dallas. Sotheby’s is privileged to be offering three works by the artist later this month in London.”

The cover lot of today’s sale, La coiffure by Federico Zandomeneghi, sold for $1,805,000, while John William Godward, R.B.A.’s Dolce far Niente more than doubled its estimate, achieving $1,565,000 (est. $400/600,000). Shooting Stars, Vittorio Caradossi’s sculpture, carved from a single block of marble, reached $689,000 (est. $300/500,000). Frederik Hendrik Kaemmerer’s panoramic view of a seaside, Beach at Scheveningen, Holland, sold for $665,000 (est. $600/800,000). Painted in 1874, it was exhibited at the Paris Salon the same year, where the artist was awarded a médaille de troisième classe.

The Procession of the Bull Apis, the first of Frederick Arthur Bridgman’s paintings to enter a public collection in America and the last major historical genre painting he would create for nearly a decade, fetched $557,000 (est. $400/600,000).