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THE MAGAZINE AUCTION RESULTS INTERNATIONAL
When works from the estate of a dealer are sold, it
seems like an ultimate test: will the professional's
choices be ratified by a new generation of collectors?
With Giancarlo Baroni, probably because he was an
enthusiastic art lover as well as a dealer, the answer
was blindingly clear from the very first lot in the sale
staged by Sotheby's on 29 and 30 January. A panel
attributed to the studio of Verrocchio – "Madonna
and Child" – went for $866,500 (see photo), multiplying
its low estimate by ten. The sale was a stunning
success, despite (or maybe because of) the
eclectic nature of this collection, where Eva Gonzales
and Degas rubbed shoulders with Tiepolo and El
Greco. But buyers could appreciate the consistent
reasoning of a genuine art lover more concerned
with the beauty of pictorial art than with glittering
names. This produced some stunning results. For
example "La Demoiselle d’honneur" by Eva Gonzalès
soared up to $2.54 M, smashing its estimate of
72 GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL I N° 23
$542,500 Antonio
d'Ubertino Verdi,
known as Bachiacca
(Florence 1499-
1572), "Portrait of a
young lady holding
a cat", oil on panel,
53.6 x 43.8 cm. 30
January, Christie's.
Glowing success at New York
Old Master sales
around $500,000 and beating a record for the artist.
All in all, the sale garnered $13.85 M, compared with
the $10 M-odd initially predicted.
The lavish but restrained catalogue (only 50 lots,
mainly paintings and majolica ware) of this Christie's
sale on 30 January achieved a resounding success,
despite a few unsold items, with a final total of $42.64
M. The lion's share of this figure went to a handful of
lots, obviously the most desirable in terms of quality
and rarity. For example, a tondo by Fra Bartolomeo of a
"Madonna and Child" with a landscape background
sold for $12.96 M, while the same subject, treated this
time by Botticelli and including St John the Baptist,
greatly exceeded its high estimate when it soared to
$10.44 M. (This panel is called the "Rockefeller
Madonna" after the most illustrious of its various
owners.) Meanwhile, on canvas this time, the third
major work in the sale featured a profane subject: the