Dorotheum’s Old Master sale held earlier this week made €8,959,129:

On 20 October 2015, numerous paintings, attracting excellent bidding activity, changed hands in the Old Master Paintings sale.

Two portraits of Philip III of Spain and his wife, Margaret of Austria, by the workshop of Franz Pourbus II fetched 393,400 Euros, thus multiplying their estimate beyond expectations. Once again, paintings by the Brueghel family of painters proved extremely popular. A “Canal Landscape with Two Workshops at the Banks” by Jan Brueghel I, measuring only 17.5 by 22.5 cm, was knocked down for 369,000 Euros to a telephone bidder.

Particular highlights were evident in works by Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Jan Fyt, with the Adoration of the Magi Altarpiece and “The goddess Diana Receiving Her Quarry” providing particularly strong outcomes, whilst portraits of Vincenzo I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Grand Duke Cosimo I also garnered particular interest.