The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA Boston) has consigned 17 deaccessioned Golden Age Dutch and Flemish paintings to be sold at auction in January at Christie’s in New York to raise money for its acquisition fund, the museum announced Thursday. The 17th-century paintings will be sold across two live auctions on 5 February 2025, and Christie’s estimates the works will collectively fetch between $2.5m and $3.8m.
“The MFA is extremely fortunate to have an exceptional collection of Dutch and Flemish paintings,” the museum’s chair of European art, Frederick Ilchman, told The Art Newspaper in a statement. The museum’s holdings nearly doubled in 2017 thanks to gifts from Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo and Susan and Matthew Weatherbie, two Boston-area couples who donated a combined 113 works by 76 Dutch and Flemish artists.
Several years ago, the MFA’s curatorial team began reviewing the museum collection, a process that revealed some similar—and even duplicative—works by the same artists, Ilchman said.
“Given that these paintings were less likely to be displayed, we felt they could be deaccessioned for the benefit of the museum,” he said, adding that proceeds from the Christie’s sale would go toward future acquisitions for the Dutch and Flemish collection. This falls under deaccessioning guidelines set by the Associated of Art Museum Directors (AAMD).
Still life with wine goblet and oysters by Pieter Claesz is estimated to sell for between $150,000 and $250,000. Courtesy Christie’s
The leading lot of the paintings is Dutch artist Jan Both’s sprawling Italianate landscape Bandits Leading Prisoners (around 1646), which shows a group of outlaws prowling the Italian countryside with captives in tow, illustrating how dangerous travel could be in the 17th century. Bandits Leading Prisoners is one of only about eight paintings on this scale that Both produced, and one of only two still circulating in the market, according to John Hawley, a director of Old Master paintings at Christie’s who previously worked at the MFA Boston as a curatorial research fellow. Other examples comparable to Bandits Leading Prisoners are in museum collections including the Musée du Louvre in Paris and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Christie’s estimates the work will sell for between $1m and $1.5m.
Another highlight from the sale is Emanuel de Witte’s Interior of the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam (1677), which shows a view of an important 15th-century church on the Dam Square in Amsterdam, near the Royal Palace. De Witte was a pioneer of architectural painting, using varying light to create vivid portrayals of the atmosphere within church interiors. Hawley called the painting “an incredibly compelling image that I think will find broad appeal even beyond traditional Old Master collectors”. The painting is expected to sell for between $400,000 and 600,000.
Interior of the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam (1677) by Emanuel de Witte Courtesy Christie’s
While Old Master works only command a fraction of the sums and market share that they did several decades ago, healthy auction results this week in London—including £10m for a Botticelli painting—offered optimism for the upper levels of the market. Having been part of an important institutional collection like the MFA Boston’s can also bring a premium from collectors at auction, Hawley said.
“When you have great pictures, the market is really responsive,” he said. “We’re talking about pictures with museum provenance, which always gets private collectors. In this case, we may have other institutions looking to fill gaps in their collections. I think there will be tremendous energy.”
