Howard L. Rehs operates a gallery on 57th St. in Manhattan specializing in 19th Century art:
Well, Christie’s finally put both feet back into the 19th century arena; they had a standalone sale in early October. Now I know James and Deb did the best they could, but the fact that Christie’s decimated this department a few years ago made their job very difficult and sadly they discovered that the road ahead was still unpaved. When the dust settled, the market said that this time their best was just not good enough.
When the catalog first arrived I had a feeling that the sale was in for a bit of trouble; and after viewing it I knew this was going to be a hard group of paintings to find buyers for. I did attend the actual sale and quickly, I am sure, it became painfully obvious to them that most buyers were really not interested in works that had condition/quality issue … at least that was the case on this day. Of the first 20 works offered, only 6 sold … had that continued it really would have been a BAD DAY and heads may have rolled! Luckily there was a little improvement.
The sale consisted of 107 works that were broken down into small sections … these included genre paintings, Barbizon, Orientalist, Sporting (an almost dead market) and Marine. Taking top honors was Boldini‘s portrait of Marthe Regnier that brought $1.87M (est. $2-$3M). In second was a rather brownish Corot titled Nymphes et faunes that made $423K (est. $400-$600K); this painting last sold in 2004 (a much stronger period) for $680K — it also did not help that the painting was offered in an April 2010 sale where it went unsold with a $600-$800K estimate. In third place was a rather lackluster Bouguereau – The Muse – at $291K (est. $150-$250K – it last appeared on the market, back in 2005, with a $250-$350K estimate and did not sell). I will add that given the subject of this painting, the price achieved was a rather good one.
As with every sale, there were some interesting paintings (at least few that I liked); among them were: a small piece by de Nittis, Portrait of a Gentleman…, that made $123K (est. $100-$150K) – not a very commercial painting, but for some reason I liked it; a rather freaky looking Gustave Dore titled La famille du saltimbanque… which brought $170,500 (est. $50-$70K and last on the market in 2007 when it sold for $48K); a nice Grimshaw featuring a Yorkshire lane in tones of green that made $255K (est. $200-$300K); a nice John Emms – Three Hounds and a Terrier… – that made $195K (est. $200-$300K); a small Lhermitte pastel which made $86,500 (est. $70-$90K and last sold in 2007 for $57,600) and Dawson‘s Taking a Northwester… at $267K (est. $180-$220K).Continue Reading