We are constantly being told that there are new buyers for Old Masters out there, even if recent auction history hardly bears this out. Earlier this year the New York sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in the sector were “bumpy and uneven”, and while better than the year before, failed to live up to pre-sale expectations.
If this was due to the weakness of the offerings (and the withdrawal, at the 11th hour, of Christie’s star El Greco painting of Saint Sebastian), then the news of an impending sale at Sotheby’s should provide a better picture of the market for Old Masters today.
The collection of Jordan and Thomas A. Saunders III is, according to the auction house, “one of the finest Old Master collections assembled in our times”, put together over almost 30 years by a New York banker and his wife. Boasting 56 works, the group is expected to fetch up to $120m when it goes under the hammer in May.
The works range from Guardi and Canaletto to Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Luis Meléndez and Adriaen Coorte; they are all highly attractive and in tip-top condition. “The Saunders were true collectors who fell in love with each picture, the works really are the best of the best with impeccable provenance,” says the Old Master dealer Johnny Van Haeften, who indeed counted them among his clients.
Luis Meléndez, Still Life with a Cauliflower, a Basket with Eggs, Leeks, and Fish, and Assorted Kitchen Utensils (around 1760s)
How well will they do? They all bear a guarantee, so already have buyers, and collections are always highly prized. However, I will hazard a guess that some will do better than others. In my opinion there are two stand-outs: Still life with Cauliflower, Basket of Fish, Eggs, and Leeks, and Kitchen Utensils (late 1760s) by the Spanish painter Luis Meléndez (est. $5m-$8m). Meléndez works appeal to the modern eye for their boldness and often surpass their pre-sale estimates: this one will set a new record even if it reaches the lower end of the target.
The other is Adriaen Coorte, Wild Strawberries in a Kraak Wan-Li Bowl, (est.$2m-$3m). The mysterious artist only painted around 100 works in his lifetime and the bowl and strawberries are a theme he returned to often. A comparable work featuring the same bowl sold for $2.4m in 2022. Again, the simplicity of the work is seductive to the modern eye.
Adriaen Coorte, Wild Strawberries in a Kraak Wan-Li Bowl (1704)
Then there are Guardi’s detailed views of Venice, the rare and interesting but (dare I say) slightly boring Frans Post, View of the Town of Olinda with Ruins of the Jesuit Church, the River Bibaribe in the Distance (1665) (est. $6m-$8m), the pretty Portrait of Miss Julia Peel (around 1826), by Thomas Lawrence (est. $6m-$8m) or the diamond-shaped Frans Hals portraits, A Boy Playing the Violin and A Girl Singing (around 1628, est. $6m-$8m).
For sure, this collection will certainly be a timely test of the sector with an off-the-market-for-decades collection, of impeccable quality and in excellent condition. Rendezvous in New York!
