Today, in London the evening auction «Old Masters and Art of the XIX century»; they will be exhibited 66 works (paintings, watercolors and drawings), which cover nearly 700-year history of European painting. Total estimeyt auction is 15 million pounds.

Top-lots auction:

1. Cloth «Madonna and Child, St. Elizabeth and the infant John the Baptist» brush Florentine High Renaissance artist Fra Bartolomeo (1472-1517), dated 1516 year. Works by Fra Bartolomeo rarely appear on the market. This product, trade from the private collection of Lady Brenda Cook, the auction house experts estimated of 2-3 million pounds.

2. Scale to the size of the canvas of Sir Antonis van Dyck (1599-1641) «Portrait of Mrs Oliver Saint John» ( estimeyt 0,8-1,2 million pounds ). The work does not appear in public since 1929.

3. Masterpiece Michele Marieschi (1710-1743) «Inner Courtyard Palace of the Doges in Venice with a view of the stairs and the giant cathedral of St. Mark» was made by an artist commissioned by the Field Marshal, Count Johann Matthias von der Shulenberga, one of the most outstanding patrons of art of XVIII century. This canvas, decorated the living room Venetian residence Shulenberga, experts estimated at 2-3 million pounds.

4. At the auction also exhibited a selection of three pencil portraits of the Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), which depicts the family Marcotte - patrons and close friends of the artist. Portraits were owned by the family since its inception and have never before been exhibited in the auction ( estimeyt one of the portraits of 250-350 thousand pounds, while the other two, offered for auction a lot - 300-400 thousand pounds ).

In addition, the auction will be exhibited works Joseph Mellorda William Turner, Frans Hals, Franz Xavier Vinterhaltera, Giandomenico Tiepolo and Pieter Bruegel Younger .

Top-lot trades Florentine artist's canvas is the era of the High Renaissance Fra Bartolomeo (1472-1517) «Madonna and Child, St. Elizabeth and the infant John the Baptist», dated 1516 year. This product, trade from the private collection of Lady Brenda Cook, the auction house experts estimated of 2-3 million. Cloth refers to a researcher for the first time the Italian Renaissance, Sir Charles Robinson in 1885. To work is characterized by significant similarity to the other bed Fra Bartolomeo, in the Roman gallery Korsini. Based on the outlines of both these songs in a Rotterdam museum Boymans van Bening, you can say that the work presented for auction Christie's, chronologically preceded the one that is in the gallery Korsini.

Fra Bartolomeo was one of the leading Florentine artists of the High Renaissance. From the artist's talent manifested itself in a very early age and throughout life in adjoining his soul with a profound religiosity. It is believed that in 1497 during a Dzhirolamo Savonaroloy Florentine «bonfire vanity» Fra Bartolomeo has burnt a large part of their work. A year later, Savonarola himself went on fire after the residents of Florence rebelled against his sermons. Influenced by the teachings Savonaroly Fra Bartolomeo, rather than the classes in painting, in 1500 went to the monastery of San Domenico, but four years later returned to art, while remaining a monk. Soon, he met Rafael and, according to Giorgio Vasari, they can often be seen together. The influence of artists was mutual - a young Rafael certainly learned a lot in the works of senior comrades, in particular on the details and bold colors. As a result, communication with Fra Bartolomeo Rafael himself in his later works greatly improved prospects for the transfer. Fra Bartolomeo all of his life spent in Florence, which remained one of the most famous painters of his time.

picture «Madonna and Child, St. Elizabeth and the infant John the Baptist» previously been part of the collection of Sir Francis Cook (1817-1901) and subsequently stored in a private collection of his grandson, Sir Herbert. Initially, Sir Francis was a passionate collector of antiques, but after getting acquainted with Sir Charles Robinson (1824-1913), he burned the idea to create a collection of art, comparable in its greatness and importance of the largest collections of European and British museums. By the time of the death of Sir Francis in 1901 for his collection of 500 paintings were works by Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, del Sarto, Titian, Tintoretto and Raphael. Sir Herbert continued his great-grandfather beginnings, expanding collection of representatives of the Venetian High Renaissance. After the outbreak of World War II to maintain and support the preservation of a large private collection is getting harder and harder, with the result that many works were put up for sale. In memory of his father, Sir Francis (1907-1978), son of Sir Herbert, passed a large portion of works donated to museums. In particular, in 1942, part of the London Meeting of the National Gallery has become a «Slavyanka» Tizian.

displayed at the July trading estimeytom to 0,8-1,2 million pounds «Portrait of Mrs Oliver Saint John» the work of Sir Antonis van Dyck (1599-1641) before was part of meeting the Duke of Clarendon (1609-1674), a prominent English statesman, historian and collector, whose daughter married the Duke of York, which later became the King Yakov II (her daughter, Maria, Anna, became the English Queen).

It is believed that the portrait was painted in 1636, four years later, after Van Dyck was devoted to the knights and became a court painter of King Charles I. The model for the portrait of Van Dyck was a Mrs Oliver Saint John, Lady Pulett, which at that time was his firstborn. After the death of Lord Puletta canvas became the property of III-rd Duke of Lotiana known Scottish collector who, in turn, presented a portrait of the Duke of Clarendon in 1667. In a letter addressed to Lord Lotianu from February 24, 1667, Lord Chancellor of Scotland Lord Tvideyl reports on the reaction of Clarendon against portrait: «It was heartening to learn that work as one of the best works of Van Dyck painted». Subsequently, the portrait became hereditary descendants of the Duke of Clarendon, and in 1919 was first exhibited at the auction Christie's. The last time the portrait was displayed in 1929 in the Detroit Institute of Fine Arts. In addition to this portrait, the auction will be exhibited in July another two of the Van Dyck, among them painting «St. Bartholomew», estimated by experts at 500-700 thousand pounds.

Masterpiece Michele Marieschi (1710-1743) «Inner Courtyard Palace of the Doges in Venice with a view of the stairs and the giant cathedral of St. Mark» was made by an artist commissioned by the Field Marshal, Count Johann Matthias von der Shulenberga, one of the most prominent patrons of the arts of XVIII century. This canvas, experts estimated at 2-3 million pounds, was bought Shulenbergom November 20, 1736 for 50 tsehinov and then decorating the walls in the living room of his residence next to the Venetian «view of the embankment SCHIAVONI» painted by Canaletto.

We know that for their lives count Shulenberg collected more than 900 paintings, which after his death became the property of his nephew, Christian Gunther von der Shulenberga. A compilation of 175 works of art from the collection Shulenberga was exhibited at Christie's auction in 1775. As a result of trades that are conducted himself, James Christie, the canvass went under the hammer for 59 giney, after which he ordered a special frame. It is in this way the canvas exhibited at the upcoming auction. Shown in this paper view of the Doges Palace is one of the earliest of all known art critic. It is also the fact that contemporary Marieschi, Canaletto, known for his views of Venice, never wrote the Doges Palace in this vein.

At the auction also exhibited a selection of three pencil portraits of the Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), which depicts the family Marcotte - patrons and close friends of the artist. Portraits were owned by the family since its inception and have never before been exhibited in the auction.

In a letter addressed to Charles Marcotte and dated 1836 year promises to Ingres friend to write portraits of his children. A few years later, Ingres finished portraits Mary Marcotte and her fiancé Alexander Lezhante ( displayed for auction as a single lot with estimeytom at 300-400 thousand pounds ). In 1849, after the death of his first wife, Ingres briefly moved to Marcotte and during his visit, wrote a portrait of their only son, Joseph ( 250-350 thousand pounds ).

picture Pieter Bruegel the Younger (1564/5-1637/8) «John the Baptist, preaching in the desert» is considered one of the most ambitious and successful paintings the artist written on the religious theme . Cloth is exposed to auction from a private collection for the first time in 70 years ( 1-1,5 million pounds ).

Cloth «Portrait of a Woman with a Fan» brush Franz Xavier Vinterhaltera (1805-1873) estimated by experts at 100-150 thousand pounds. Vinterhalter was very known for his portraits of Tsar persons in Europe mid-XIX century. His name is closely linked with a secular court portrait painting. Vinterhalteru posed Empress Eugenia, Queen Victoria, Napoleon III, and many others. In 1850 Vinterhalter received an order for the creation of the portrait, fully demonstrating his talent portraitist.

Among the other lots, put up for auction in July, special attention has recently found a portrait painted by Frans Hals (1581/5-1666) «Head Boy» ( 300 -- 500 thousand pounds ), watercolor Mellorda Joseph William Turner (1775-1851) «Of Yarmuta: boat, sail to shore in windy weather» ( 200-300 thousand pounds ) and «Angelica and Medora» Giandomenico Tiepolo (1727-1804) ( 600-800 thousand pounds ).

Source: Press Releases Christie's, christies. com