Sotheby’s Looks for a New Market in Plain Sight

Auction house innovation doesn’t have to come from online auctions, complex guarantees or enhanced-hammer commissions. Sometimes it simply involves creating better partnerships. And, in the case of the Old Master category where Sotheby’s is dominant, working closely with dealer Fabrizio Moretti is a way to innovate from a position of strength:

Over lunch at art world favourite Sette Mezzo, he and Wachter determine the estimates for the 30 works, including a pair of 14th-century gold-ground panel paintings by Lorenzo Veneziano; a tondo depicting the Virgin and Child with Saint John that was painted in Botticelli’s workshop and worked on and completed by the master himself; and a glazed terracotta figure of Saint Michael by Giovanni della Robbia. “We have a lot of really covetable things, with very favourable estimates, much less than they would be in the gallery,” says Wachter. “There are buying opportunities that you can’t get in other areas, not in contemporary and not Impressionists.”

Despite his philanthropic intentions for the sale, Moretti does not expect unanimous support from his peers. “For sure I will be criticised by many of my colleagues,” he acknowledges as he hails a taxi from the sidewalk. “For many dealers, auction houses are the enemy. This is a way to make public that dealers should collaborate with auction houses. Today the world is globalised and, especially in America, they have the power of the market.”

Young Master | Sotheby’s