Art Market Monitor

Restitution continues to drive the Old Master market forward as this Dutch painting comes on the market in January’s New York sales, Carol Vogel has the details in the New York Times:

As Dutch old masters go, Hendrick Goltzius was a racy guy. He had a penchant for naked women, and fleshy bodies in general. His 1612 canvas “Jupiter and Antiope” includes both, along with plump cushions, gently folded drapery, pearl earrings and perfectly formed fruit: an apple, a pear, a bowl of grapes.

Whether that painting is what collectors want right now remains to be seen. Sotheby’s is selling it in New York on Jan. 28, estimating the canvas at $8 million to $12 million.

“Although he started his career as a draftsman, in 1600 Goltzius turned to painting,” said George Wachter, director of Sotheby’s old master paintings department worldwide. “And ‘Jupiter and Antiope’ was executed at a moment when the artist was moving away from Mannerism and towards the Baroque.”

The painting, displayed in the auction house’s London space, can be seen in New York at Sotheby’s York Avenue headquarters from Jan. 23 to 27.

Inside Art: A Lusty Canvas (NY Times)

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