Sotheby’s Masters Week series continues with online sales of Old Masters and 19th Century European Art open for bidding through 6 February. Below is a look at some of the highlights that drove the results of our Masters Week series:

The Female Triumphant

To highlight this year’s Masters Week sales series, Sotheby’s assembled a group of works by female artists of the pre-Modern era, celebrating the lives and important work of these groundbreaking women. Titled The Female Triumphant, the group featured major paintings created by leading female artists from the 16th through the 19th centuries, and totaled $14.6 million – surpassing the series’s high estimate of $13.2 million. The series established new auction records for 7 female artists, including Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun, Fede Galizia, Angelika Kauffmann, Giulia Lama, Amile-Ursule Guillebaud, Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau and Virginie Demont-Breton.

Calvine Harvey, Specialist in Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings Department in New York, commented: “The number of Old Master female artists who succeeded and are known to us today remains incredibly few – in 2018, Sotheby’s sold only 14 works by female Old Masters, compared to 1,100 male artists. It’s important to remember that the obstacles women artists of the pre-Modern era faced were substantial, and those that broke down those barriers were truly triumphant. It was therefore such a thrill to see strong prices throughout our offering of works from The Female Triumphant – none more so than the monumental portrait by Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun that achieved a new auction record for any work by a female artist of the pre-Modern era. With additional records established for the work Fede Galizia, Angelika Kauffmann, Giulia Lama, Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau and Virginie Demont-Breton, the market clearly responded to the work of these groundbreaking women, including both new and established collectors.”

During Tuesday night’s sale of Master Paintings,  Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun’s life-sized Portrait of Muhammad Dervish Khan, achieved an astounding $7.2 million – a new world auction record for any female artist of the pre-modern era. Painted in the summer of 1788 and exhibited at the Salon of 1789, when political unrest had begun to boil in France, the work stands today as a symbolic testament to the relationship between Pre-Revolutionary France and India.

The evening established additional auction records for Fede Galizia, Angelika Kauffmann and Giulia Lama.  A pioneer of the still life genre, which she helped invent in the early 17th-century, Fede Galizia’s A glass compote with peaches, jasmine flowers, quinces, and a grasshopper achieved $2.4 million (estimate $2/3 million). Although she produced fewer than 20 refined, naturalistic still life compositions on panel, these works inspired followers in her lifetime and are now considered her most important paintings. One of the wealthiest families in England, the young generation of Spencers likely depicted in Angelika Kauffmann’s Portrait of Three Children, sold for $915,000, surpassing its high estimate of $800,000. One of the most cultured and influential women of her generation, Angelika Kauffmann holds a place of particular importance in European art history as one of only two female founding members of the Royal Academy.

All five of the works by female artists offered in Friday’s 19th Century European Art auction were sold, totaling $1.8 million, exceeding its pre-sale high estimate of $1 million. The group was led by Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau’s La captive, which realized 591,000 and established a new auction record for the artist (estimate $250/350,000). Exhibited at the Salon of 1893, the work displays the exceptional skill that led her to be the first and only American woman to win a gold medal at the Paris Salon. Virginie Demont-Breton’s earliest masterpiece Femme de pêcheur venant de baigner ses enfants exceeded expectations, tripling its estimate in bringing $543,000 (estimate $100/150,000) and establishing a new auction record for the artist. Winning Demont-Breton’s first medal at the Salon of 1881, the work propelled her distinguished career as a painter and as a pioneering advocate for women artists.

MASTER PAINTINGS EVENING SALEAuction Total: $52.7 Million

Christopher Apostle, Head of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings Department in New York, commented: “We are very pleased with the results of our sale, which demonstrated an enthusiastic, sophisticated and confident market for Master Paintings. Top prices buoyed by demand for fantastic Dutch Golden Age pictures of the highest quality, and global participation across private collectors, institutions and the trade. The results demonstrate the market’s enthusiasm for museum-caliber, fresh-to-market material that is estimated attractively.”

Outside of The Female Triumphant, the evening sale featured a group of Dutch masterworks emerging from a distinguished private collection. The selection was led by Joachim Anthonisz. Wtewael’s work on copper A Banquet of the Gods, which sold for $5.9 million (estimate $5/7 million) to the Centraal Museum in Utrecht. Its elegant forms, classical subject, and refined technique of this oil on copper exemplify the Dutch Mannerist movement, which included the most important artists in the Netherlands from 1580 to 1620. The collection also featured Jan van de Cappelle’s A shipping scene on a calm sea, with a number of vessels and figures, and a jetty on the left, which fetched $4.8 million (estimate $4/6 million) – the second-highest price ever achieved for the artist at auction. The luminous scene is a particularly evocative and successful example of the calm, expansive seascapes that distinguished Jan van de Cappelle as one of the leading marine painters of the Dutch Golden Age.

Further Dutch masterworks in the sale included Pieter Claesz’s Still life of lemons and olives, pewter plates, a roemer and a façon-de-Venise wine glass on a ledge, which soared past its pre-sale high estimate of $900,000, realizing $2.5 million and establishing a new auction record for the artist. The works that Pieter Claesz. painted between 1628 and 1630, of which this is an outstanding example, came to define the classical Haarlem ontbijtje (breakfast piece).

The evening’s offering of Italian works was led by Orazio Gentileschi’s dynamic and dramatic Fall of the Rebel Angels, which realized $3.3 million (estimate $2.5/3.5 million). Painted on a large piece of alabaster circa 1601/2, the work displays the artist’s shift from his mannerist beginnings to a more naturalistic style, due in part to his burgeoning friendship with Caravaggio.

Master Paintings & Sculpture Day SaleAuction Total: $10.8 Million

Wednesday’s Master Paintings & Sculpture Day sale was led by a 17th century replica of Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic Mona Lisa, which smashed its pre-sale high estimate of $120,000 after a ten minute bidding battle, selling for $1.7 million. Amongst the most recognizable images in the world, thought to depict Lisa Gherardini, the wife of the Florentine silk merchant Francesco Giocondo, the numerous copies made after the original in 1503, are a testament to its timeless appeal. It is believed that the work was formerly in the collection of the Pistoj family, an old aristocratic family from the city of Pistoia that dates back to the fourteenth century, where it remained in the family for over 260 years until the passing of the last descendant.

OLD MASTER DRAWINGSAuction Total: $15.1 Million* Record for Any Old Master Drawings Sale at Sotheby’s *

Gregory Rubinstein, Head of Sotheby’s Old Master Drawings Department, commented: “We are thrilled with the results of our sale, which marks the highest total for an Old Master Drawings auction at Sotheby’s worldwide. Anchored by the significant record-breaking Rubens study, we saw market demand for additional blue-chip, fresh-to-market works from all corners of the globe, led by bidding among private collectors from America, China, Russia and Europe. The market for Old Master Drawings is strong, and today’s results reflect just that.”

The morning’s auction was highlighted by a magnificent collection of drawings assembled by King William II of the Netherlands and his wife Anna Pavlovna, who together amassed one of the finest collections formed anywhere in Europe in the 19th century. Twelve drawings together totaled $11 million –  three times their collective high estimate of $3.7 million. While many of the works they owned now reside in major museums, both in the Netherlands and around the world, these drawings are among those that passed down privately through the family.

The collection was led by Sir Peter Paul Rubens’s Nude Study of Young Man with Raised Arms – one of the most important drawings by the iconic artist to appear on the open market in over 50 years – which sold for $8.2 million after intense competition between two bidders. That price more than doubled the work’s high estimate of $3.5 million, and established a new world auction record for a drawing by the artist. Drawn by the artist shortly after his return to Antwerp from Italy in late 1608 and in preparation for his monumental altarpiece, The Raising of the Cross, the drawing provides the viewer with a fascinating insight into Rubens’s working methods, as well as the energy and vigor employed by the artist in his best drawings.

Further highlights from the collection include a red chalk Portrait of a youth, attributed to Agostino Caracci, which sold for $1.5 million – more than 40 times its pre-sale estimate of $35/45,000 – and an Italian 16th-century drawing of The Fight For The Standard (The Battle Of Anghiari), After Leonardo, which achieved $795,000 – more than 20 times it estimate of $25/35,000.

Outside of the King William II and Anna Pavlovna collection, museum-quality works by Raphael and Cornelis Troost also fetched top prices. A substantial, newly-discovered drawing of a Standing Figure in Armor by Raphael brought $795,000. Dated to the artist’s early career in Florence (circa 1506-7), the drawing shows all the unpredictable originality that characterizes Raphael’s works of this period. Corenlis Troost’s highly entertaining and visually engaging Drinkenburg achieved $639,000 – smashing the artist’s previous world auction record, which was established by this same drawing when it was last sold at auction in 1999.

19th Century European ArtAuction Total: $16.1 million

Separate from The Female Triumphant offering, Friday’s auction saw strong prices achieved for quintessential 19th-century pictures – many of which had not been seen in public for generations. “We are thrilled to have achieved such a spectacular result during this important auction week in New York, said Mark Buck, Co-Head of Sotheby’s 19th Century European Paintings department in New York. “In addition to strong institutional interest, seasoned Old Master and Impressionist collectors found value in fresh, diverse paintings of the highest quality. With more than 50% of the sold lots selling above their high estimate, our sales results reflect that buyers are willing to compete at the very top of the market.”

7 works by William Bouguereau were sold, demonstrating the demand for works by the master of French Academic painting as well as the commitment from collectors to acquire the best works. His 1901 canvas Le livre de prix – which led the sale – achieved $1.3 million (estimate $1/1.5 million). Formerly in the collection of Henry May, Vice President and General Manager of the Pierce-Arrow Motor Company, the work has remained in the same family’s collection for over 100 years and until recently, was known only through a black and white photograph from Bouguereau’s studio.

All four of the works by Jules Breton offered in Friday’s sale were sold, totaling $2.2 million – far surpassing the group’s high estimate of $1.3 million.  The assemblage was led by Le Matin from 1883, which achieved $1.2 million (estimate $400/600,000).

Highlights from British and Victorian artists included John William Godward, Sir Frank Dicksee, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, and John Atkinson Grimshaw, led by the $1.2 million result for Dicksee’s Yseult (estimate $1/2 million) and Godward’s A Dilettante, which brought $423,000 (400/600,000).

A new record was set for German artist Wilhelm Kuhnert when his Grollende Löwen (Growling Lions) sold for $645,000 – more than doubling its pre-sale high estimate of $300,000. Dated to 1912, the work depicts Kuhnert’s favorite of his wildlife subjects, which earned earned him the nickname "Lion-Kuhnert.  By the early twentieth century, Kuhnert’s wildlife paintings were reproduced in natural history books, advertisements, school publications, and scientific texts, ultimately shaping a popular understanding of the wildlife.

Seth Armitage, Co-Head of Sotheby’s 19th Century European Paintings department in New York, commented: “Overall, the sale continued to show strength across a wide range of categories, including French Academic, Realist, and Victorian art– with new records set for diverse artists from Wilhelm Kuhnert, to female artists Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau and Virginie Demont-Breton, whose groundbreaking efforts continue to benefit artists and audiences today.”

The Gilded Age: Property from a Distinguished American CollectionAuction Total: $5.2 Million

Our Masters Week auctions concluded on Saturday afternoon with a dedicated sale of property from an important American collector who assembled over decades a fine group of paintings and decorative arts, ranging from Old Masters to the Impressionists, exceptional pieces of 18th and 19th Century continental furniture, decorative art and Asian art. The sale was led by William Bouguereau’s 1984 Pâquerettes, which brought $1.2 million – nearly 2x over its pre-sale high estimate of $600,000. An exceptional example of the Bouguereau’s Academic style, it’s highly life-like composition celebrates the endearing qualities and idyllic nature of a child’s life in the countryside.