Everything Old Is New Again

Victorian Art, Overlooked and Out of Fashion, Performs Well at Sotheby’s

The Scott collection of Victorian narrative pictures, 242 lots of them, sold for £4.6 million with 88% of the lots finding buyers.

Bloomberg‘s Scott Reyburn picks up the action:

“We haven’t seen the galleries and the saleroom as full and busy for a Victorian picture sale for many years,” said Grant Ford, Sotheby’s specialist in charge of the auction [ . . . ]

A record 1 million pounds with fees was paid for Sophie Anderson’s sentimental 1850s oil, “No Walk Today,” showing an elaborately dressed little girl gazing dejectedly through a window at falling rain. The 19-inch-high canvas, bought by Scott in 1926, had been expected to fetch between 600,000 pounds and 800,000 pounds. The buyer was an anonymous bidder at the back of the saleroom who left immediately after making his purchase.

14 records were set for artists by the 280 bidders registered for the event. Over 56% of the lots went for prices above the high estimates. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? Six months ago those statistics would have described a contemporary art auction. But the bidders weren’t quick to claim a rush to Victorian art. Bloomberg again:

“In normal conditions this sale wouldn’t have done as well,” said London dealer Julian Hartnoll, who underbid the Dyce landscape. “It’s all down to Sotheby’s marketing and the fact that it’s a one-man collection,” he said in an interview.

Sotheby’s 4.6 Million-Pound Sale Boosts Victorian Art in London (Bloomberg)