Bonham’s is excited about the Roerich paintings that they’ve got on offer for December’s Russian sale in London. The biggest lot is Roerich’s son Svyatoslav who painted King Solomon using his father as a model. Another Svetoslav portrait of his father in Tibetan robes reached the record price of nearly $3 million in April of 2009. Here’s Bonham’s PR description of the work and one of his father’s on offer too:
A double-sided painting entitled ‘King Solomon’ by Svetoslav Roerich is one of the top lots in the Russian Sale taking place in New Bond Street on 1st December. Estimated to sell for £300,000 – 400,000, this work has never been exhibited or published before and has only previously been known to a small group of specialists. One of only two existing works from the unfinished series of paintings depicting the most important religious figures and spiritual teachers of the past, this magnificent portrait was painted in 1923 in Paris where Roerich stopped on his way to India.
A magnificent painting of the Himalayas by Nicholas Roerich, entitled ‘‘Himalayas, from Ting-kye Dzong’ is estimated to sell for £80,000 – 100,000. The painting was executed in 1928 in Darjeeling, India where Nicholas Roerich and his expedition party arrived after crossing Mongolia and Tibet.