Toronto’s Globe and Mail is keeping score on the sale of works from the Beaverbrook Art Gallery to settle a lawsuit brought by the Beaverbrook Foundation in the UK. The Result of the suit was the sale of some works through Sotheby’s. Last week’s Old Master sale made the foundation very happy as all the works were sold well above the estimates:

The record-setter at the Sotheby’s sale was an epic 1776 seascape by French master Claude-Joseph Vernet, A Grand View, selling for $7,026,500, including buyer’s premium. The work, an impressive 162.6-cm-by-261-cm oil on canvas, commissioned by British prime minister William Petty, had a pre-sale estimate of $1.5- to $2-million. […]

The other Beaverbrook consignments, two late-15th-century paintings attributed to Sandro Botticelli and his studio, outperformed expectations: While each had a pre-sale estimate of $150,000 to $200,000, Christ Carrying the Cross and The Resurrection went for $722,500 and $662,500, respectively, including buyer’s premium.

Former Beaverbrook Gallery Works Fetch $8.5m (Globe and Mail)