VIENNA.- Old Master Paintings from important private collections, some on public exhibition for the first time, will be offered for sale at auction on 21st April 2015.

A delicately, striking and modern portrait study by Federico Barocci (Urbino 1535-1612) Portrait Lavinia della Rovere (?) (oil on canvas, 49.5 x 38 cm) a member of the ruling family of the Duchy of Urbino will also be included in the sale. Its intimate and naturalist appeal is an important example of a new realism in Italian portraiture at the end of the 16th century that was far removed from the earlier stiff courtly portraits (€ 300,000 – 400,000).

A perfectly preserved early 15th century gold ground panel by Scolaio di Giovanni, the Master of the Borgo alla Collina (Florence circa 1379 -1434) Madonna and Saints (tempera on gold ground panel 103 x 52.5cm) is also offered for sale from an important private collection (€ 50,000 – 60,000). A private collection of 17th century still lives that includes a very rare early work by the highly accomplished Jan Davidsz. de Heem. More famous for his opulent Flemish still lives, this work shows his more reserved Dutch roots (€ 70,000 – 90,000).

Dorotheum will also offer a re-discovered composition by Pieter Brueghel the Younger that was only known among scholars by a workshop copy. The subject ‘A Couple Fishing’ most certainly would have had an erotic undertone to an audience in the 17th century. The work has been in a private Belgian collection since the beginning of the 19th century (€ 180,000 – 200,000).

“A Music-Making Party” is a fine example from a Viennese private collection of an Utrecht Caravaggist, and demonstrates a union between northern and southern European art. The artist Jan van Bijlert was highly influenced by the revolution in art that was carried forward by Caravaggio (, 1626, € 300,000 – 400,000).

19th Century Paintings Auction 23rd April 2015
The auction of 19th century paintings offers a masterful portrait of an old lady by British painter John Singer Sargent alongside numerous other quality works from the period.

His paintings were greatly sought after among the elite social circles. He had perfected his craft in Paris under Carolus-Duran, had risen internationally as a leading representative of portraiture and was known as a master of his craft on both sides of the Atlantic. "The Portrait of an Old Lady" was carried out in the greatest artistic freedom and seems to have been quickly painted from life. It is one of a series of gloomy portraits of women that Sargent painted in the 1880s (€ 30.000 - 40.000).

The Russian painter Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky is known for its numerous sea pictures with ships. His extraordinary depiction of stormy waters is demonstrated in the two works that are offered at Dorotheum. The "Sinking ship" from 1889 is estimated at €50.000 to €60.000, the "Ship of the coast" has an estimate of €20,000 to €40,000. Both are prime examples of small-sized panel paintings Aivazovkys.

The discovery of the largest and best-documented painting by Johann Georg von Dillis, Roman Landscape (The Old Tower Near Marino), 1821, is highly significant in terms of art history. With the help of Dillis’s drawings, which he created during his many visits to Rome, the image can be traced to its precise topographical point. The old tower near Marino was a popular destination for painters, and has been since the time of Nicolas Pouissin, who around 1650 created a painting with the same motif, which now hangs in the Galleria Pallavicini in Rome (€ 25,000 – 35,000).