LONDON.- Taking place at
Christie’s on 27 September 2016, Brian Sewell: Critic & Collector saw spirited bidding in an exceptionally crowded saleroom with attendance from collectors, friends and admirers of the renowned art critic, award-winning journalist and author, and former specialist at Christie’s. The auction achieved 3,741,313 / $4,852,483 / €4,306,251 for over 200 lots that reflected the personal tastes of Brian Sewell, selling 90% by lot. The results demonstrated international appreciation for the passion Sewell had for collecting throughout his life with registered bidders from 32 countries across 4 continents.
Standing as testament to the discerning eye of Brian Sewell, the exceptionally modelled Dido reclining, asleep by Daniele da Volterra (1509-66) led the sale and realised more than five times its estimate of 150,000 to set a world record at auction for the artist of 797,000 / $1,033,709 / €917,347. The earliest drawing in the collection, Design for a bench in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, of around 1527, by Baldassare Peruzzi (1481-1536) saw determined bidding achieve a world auction record of 353,000 / $457,841 / €406,303. Works in the Old Master Drawings category continued to be in strong demand, realising the artist record at auction for the Florentine Agostino Ciampelli, another of the major discoveries in Brian Sewell’s collection, which sold for 118,750 / $154,019 / €136,681 (estimate: 20,000-30,000).
A bozzetto by Andrea Sacchi (1599-1661) Madonna and Child with Saints Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Cosmos and Damian more than doubled its estimate to sell for 233,000 / $302,201 / €268,183, also a world record for the artist at auction. Seated male nude by James Barry (1741-1806) set a record for a drawing by the artist, selling for 87,500 / $113,488 / €100,713. One of the collector’s notable finds, a meticulously drawn view of the Schmadribach Waterfall near Lauterbrunnen, by Joseph Anton Koch (17681839) realised 68,750 / $89,169 / €79,131 against an estimate of 20,000-30,000. Recently identified by Christie’s Man’s head in profile by the Spaniard Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652) soared above its high estimate of 8,000 to 27,500 / $35,668 / €31,653. Saint Jerome, a painting bought at auction by Sewell who recognised it to be by the Flemish painter Matthias Stomer, doubled its low estimate to sell online for 365,000 / $473,405 / €420,115. The group of twelve paintings by Sewell’s friend Eliot Hodgkin were particularly sought after, with Twelve Pheasant Eggs (47,500 / $61,608 / €54,673) doubling its low estimate of 20,000. John Craxton’s Study of a seated young man achieved ten times its low estimate of 3,000 to achieve 30,000 / $38,910 / €34,530 while Duncan Grant’s Chrysanthemums in a Jar, Charleston (recto) and Reclining Male Nude (verso) achieved 56,250 / $72,956 / €64,744, more than double its low estimate of 20,000.
Nol Annesley, Honorary Chairman, Christie’s UK: “The results achieved at Christie’s for the collection of my esteemed former colleague and mentor Brian Sewell gave particular pleasure. They demonstrated the appeal to today’s collectors of the extraordinary wide range of pictures and drawings from all periods which he had selected during a lifetime’s devotion to art. It was a celebration of a remarkable eye and a wide sensibility.”
