MUNICH.- The auction of Old Masters & Art of the 19th Century provided a successful opening of the autumn auction season in Munich. “What I find particularly pleasant”, says company owner
Robert Ketterer, “is the fact that, apart from many standing clients, some 40% of the bidders were first-time buyers which added new swing to this section.” The overall result of around € 900,000 is on par with last year's figures from the same period.
Top 5
€ 118,750 starting price: € 45,000. No. 181: Franz von Stuck – Neckerei
€ 68,750 starting price: € 24,000. No. 176: Josef von Brandt – Standartenreiter ...
€ 62.500 starting price: € 22,000. No. 131: Karl Friedrich Schinkel (copy after) – Landschaft mit Pilger
€ 55.000 starting price: € 24.000. No. 162: Josef von Brandt – Dahinjagende Fuhrwerke
€ 37.500 starting price: € 35.000. No. 58: Joseph Heintz the Younger – Der Maskenball
The lucky winner of the day's top lot from the section of Art of the 19th Century, however, was a standing client and no private collector, either. Franz von Stuck's enchanting “Neckerei“ (lot 181) was especially sought-after among German art traders. After it had been called up at € 45,000, a long and heated bidding skirmish broke out. A Hessian trader stopped the race with an offer of € 118,750 and stood his grounds against numerous bidders in the salesroom and a very persistent colleague on the phone.
Second and fourth place in the top flight went to the Polish artist Josef von Brandt. As it had already been the case with the remarkable success of an oil painting by the artist, realizing a five-fold of its starting price two years ago, the two works by Brandt offered this time were especially popular with his fellow countrymen. Accordingly, it was little surprising that his “Dahinjagende Fuhrwerke” (lot 162), as well as the painting “Standartenreiter auf dem Schlachtfeld” (lot 176), both entering the race with estimates of € 24,000, return to the artist's home country. A persevering lady showed the most endurance and relegated agile competitors with results of € 68,750 and € 55,000 respectively to places second and beyond.
Brandt's fellow countryman Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski was likewise successful with his oil painting “Fröhliche Schlittenfahrt” (lot 235), for which two private collectors, both also from Poland, competed on the phone. Called up at € 6,400, they pushed the work from 1910 to a result of € 12,500 and almost doubled the starting price.
The copy of the idyllic “Landschaft mit Pilger” (lot 131) after Karl Friedrich Schinkel, realized a threefold of the starting price as it was lifted from € 22,000 to a result of € 62,500 by Wittrock, Berlin.
Alexanders Koester's picturesque flock of ducks had already made for a remarkable result this spring, when an art lover allowed a six-fold of its starting price for a large family of ducks. This time works by the Rhenish artist caught on likewise (lots 198, 210, 217 and 240). Passionate collectors from Southern Germany showed the most persistence, honoring the feathered fellows, marvelously staged in a play of light and shade, with prices up to € 32,500.
The section of Old Masters was led by an oil painting from the Augsburg artist Joseph Heintz the Younger. A Hessian art lover was willing to pay € 37,500 for the work “Der Maskenball” (lot 58) from the mid 17th century.
Three works by Albrecht Dürer (lots 1,3 and 4) were sold with sharp increases at the auction's very beginning. His engraving “Die Heilige Familie mit der Libelle“ (lot 3), particularly sought-after among American art traders, is especially worthwhile mentioning. It was taken from a starting price of € 4,000 to a result of € 8,750. The new owner did not only stand his grounds against a number of written bids, but also against a colleague from Hesse on the phone.
Works by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (lots 14-24) were likewise popular and almost exclusively sold with sharp increases. Among them his etching “Veduta della Piazza di Monte Cavallo“, which climbed from a calling price of € 1,200 to a result of € 2,750.
