Lindsay Pollock and Scott Reyburn follow up on Bloomberg on Colin Gleadell’s reports that a substantial portion of Sotheby’s New York Impressionist and Modern sale is composed of works from the collection of Dutch investor, Louis Reijtenbagh:

“It seems like it’s one of the first group of pictures appearing at auction as a distress sale” since the financial crisis took hold, said private New York dealer Franck Giraud. The Dutch financier confirmed in a statement provided by Sotheby’s that the art belongs to Monte Carlo Art SA, a Reijtenbagh family entity that controls the art, and was “previously pledged either to AMRO Bank Luxembourg SA or J.P. Morgan Chase as collateral for loans,” said the statement. “These loans have been fully satisfied and these works will be sold on behalf of Monte Carlo unencumbered of liens or claims from these or other banks.” […]

Geneva-based dealer Jacques de la Beraudiere was one of four main dealers who sold to the collector. […] “I met him the first time in Paris and we became very good friends. He bought very well,” said de la Beraudiere, who is optimistic about the auction. “The market can absorb the collection easily. The estimates are not that high.”

Reijtenbagh began buying from the late Robert Noortman, a dealer in Dutch Old Masters. He also patronized the Paris-based galleries Cazeau Beraudiere and Hopkins-Custot, and Montreal’s Landau Gallery. He also bought at auction. He purchased Degas’s circa 1882- 1888 oil-on-paper of jockeys on horseback at the 2004 auction of property of John Hay Whitney, paying $4.37 million. The work is now estimated to fetch between $4 million and $6 million.

Financier to Auction $40 Million Paintings: Art Buzz (Bloomberg)