Spanning art from antiquity to the 20th century, Christie’s Classic Week in London returns this Summer with ten live auctions and one online sale. The series will run from 30 June to 14 July, with auction highlights on public view from 1 July.
This season’s Classic Week sales are led by a remarkable panel The Entombment of Christ by El Greco, the intimate size of a cabinet picture expressed with the grandeur and brilliant colouring for which the artist was renowned (estimate: £6,000,000-8,000,000); a landmark re-discovery of the last known pair of portraits by Rembrandt to remain in private hands, at auction 200 years after they were last seen at Christie’s (estimate: £5,000,000-8,000,000); and a discovery: a pioneering early work by Fra Angelico (estimate: £4,000,000-6,000,000). Further highlights include Jean-Léon Gérôme’s First Kiss of the Sun (estimate: £250,000-£350,000), J.M.W. Turner’s Sunrise over the Sea (estimate: £600,000-800,000), and three drawings from Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo’s Punchinello series from the collection of Sir Brinsley Ford, which have not been on the market for almost a century (with estimates from £80,000 to £300,000). The star sculpture is a bust of Helen of Troy, a masterpiece in marble by Antonio Canova, which was a personal gift from the artist himself over 200 years ago (estimate: £2,500,000-4,000,000).
Paintings and drawings by Old Masters, ancient and classical works of art, furniture, decorative objects and one-of-a-kind innovations feature throughout Classic Week in the Old Masters, Antiquities and Exceptional sales. The Valuable Books and Manuscripts sale offers a captivating selection ranging from medieval manuscripts and autograph letters to first-edition books, with a particular focus on science and intellectual history represented by Charles Darwin’s corrected proofs for a work on insectivorous plants.
Classic Week also features the distinguished collections of J.E. Safra in Remastered, with all lots offered without a reserve price; Alice and Nikolaus Harnoncourt: Artists Collecting Art; BAYREUTH: A Connoisseur’s Collection of English Silver and Gold Boxes and the Magnificent Library of Norman Bobins: Part II, presenting a remarkable collection of books with beautiful hand-coloured plates.
