EARLY RENAISSANCE AND RENAISSANCE PAINTING IN EUROPE
The sale also includes a rich offering of European Renaissance paintings, mainly Italian, German and Flemish, covering three centuries. Following the records set for Italian gold-grounds last December, the sale presents a fine selection of early Renaissance paintings, including 14th and 15th-century Tuscan and Venetian works, as well as an exceptionally rare example of mid-14th century Catalan painting (lot 27). Leading this group are a magnificent depiction the “Madonna of Mercy” (Madonna della Misericordia) by The Mater of 1336 painted in Pistoia around 1340-1350 (lot 26, est. £400,000-600,000, illustrated right) and a superb Nativity scene painted around 1435–40, almost certainly in Vienna, by The Master of The Saint Lambrecht Votive Altarpiece. With its precious and visually arresting gold-ground, this panel is an outstanding example of the full flowering of the International Gothic style in Austria in the 15th century (lot 29, est. £300,000-400,000, illustrated p.1).
Renaissance painting and sculpture are also at the core of a single-owner sale “A Venetian Legacy: An Italian Private Collection” to be offered in London on 5 December. Further highlights include Italian furniture and 18th century Venetian paintings, such as The Fortune Teller by Pietro Longhi and A Mediterranean Port View by Luca Carlevarijs.

FLEMISH PAINTING: In Rubens’ Garden
Pieter Bruegel the Elder and niece of Pieter Brueghel the Younger. The painting has had a distinguished history and a continuous provenance since 1731, 80 years after it was painted (lot 43, Among the fantastic selection of Flemish paintings is a fascinating work by David Teniers the Younger (1610- 1690), one of the most prolific Flemish painters of the 17th century. Painted in 1651, An elegant company before a pavilion in an ornamental garden contains a reference to almost all the greatest painters of the Golden Age of Flemish painting. It depicts a garden party in the parterre behind Rubens’ house (now the Rubenhuis), with the garden pavilion designed by Rubens himself as a backdrop. The work also features a self-portrait of Teniers and his wife Anna, daughter of Jan Brueghel the Elder, granddaughter of est. £800,000-1,200,000)

300 YEARS OF PORTRAITURE
The sale is also distinguished by a fascinating gallery of portraits featuring some of the most influential painters in the history of Western Art. Covering 300 years of portraiture, from the late 15th century to the 18th century, the selection is highlighted by a remarkable group of female portraits Portraits of High-ranking Commanders and two likenesses of high-ranking commanders by two master portraitists who came to dominate the genre throughout Europe: the Venetian Renaissance master Titian and the flamboyant Baroque painter, Anthony van Dyck. Late portraits by Titian (1485/90(?)-1576) are very rare and this impressive Portrait of a Venetian Admiral, possibly Francesco Duodo was executed during the Italian master’s final decade. Largely ignored in the literature due to its inaccessibility, this portrait can be traced back to the 1620s when Van Dyck recorded it in his Italian sketchbook (lot 18, est. £1-1.5 million, illustrated left).

Sir Anthony Van Dyck himself is represented in the sale by a portrait of another high-ranking commander, George, Baron Goring (1608–1657), one of the most prominent and talented of Charles I's cavalry commanders (lot 39, est. £150,000-200,000). Portraits of Female Sitters The selection of female portraits is led by a portrait by Van Dyck depicting Anne Sophia, Countess of Carnarvon, daughter of one of the painter’s most important early patrons, and painted circa 1636, at the height of the baroque painter’s career (lot 8, est. £400,000-600,000, illustrated above, in the middle).

Another highlight of this section is one of Lucas Cranach The Elder’s finest versions of Lucretia - a favourite subject of the artist - painted circa 1525 (lot 6, est. £400,000-600,000, illustrated p.5). Stretching back to the turn of the 15th to the 16th century are a Portrait of a lady attributed to the German painter Bernhard Strigel, a work of exceptional quality and in remarkable condition (lot 5, est. £150,000-200,000 ) and The Magdalene by The Master of the female half-lengths, who ran one of the most prolific workshops of the northern Renaissance (lot 7, est. £80,000-120,000). The sale also features two 17th-centruy Italian portraits: a ravishing depiction of Arachne painted by Bernardo Strozzi circa 1628–33 (lot 21, est. £200,000-300,000) and a poetic representation of a three-quarter turned young shepherdess playing the flute attributed to the great Bolognese painter Giuseppe Maria Crespi (lot 9, est. £ 60,000-80,000, pictured p.5).