Master Paintings Evening Sale
At Sotheby’s New York

January Auction Offering Important
Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Flemish & British Paintings
Spanning the 14th through 19th Centuries

Highlights include:

Dutch Masterworks from a Distinguished Private Collection
Led by the Finest Painting by Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael
To Appear at Auction
**
An Extraordinary Rare Work on Alabaster by Orazio Gentileschi
**
One of the Greatest Still Lifes by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder
Remaining in Private Hands

SOTHEBY’S MASTERS WEEK EXHIBITIONS OPEN 25 JANUARY

Evening Auction 30 January 2019

NEW YORK, 19 December 2018 – Sotheby’s will offer works by some of the most celebrated names in European art history in our Master Paintings Evening Sale on 30 January 2019. Headlined by an impressive group of 17th-century Dutch masterpieces from a distinguished private collection, the auction also features standout works by masters including Orazio Gentileschi, Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder.

Open to the public on 25 January, the sale will be presented alongside Sotheby’s Masters Week exhibitions of Master Paintings & Sculpture Day Sale, Old Master Drawings, 19th-Century European Art and The Gilded Age Revisited: Property of a Distinguished American Collection.

MAGNIFICENT DUTCH PICTURES FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION

Joachim Anthonisz. Wtewael
A Banquet of the Gods
Estimate $5/7 million

At the core of this January’s sale is a group of seven paintings of impressive quality from a distinguished private collection. Leading this group is a remarkably well-preserved Banquet of the Gods by Joachim Anthonisz. Wtewael. Its elegant forms, classical subject, and refined technique exemplify the Dutch Mannerist movement, which included the most important artists in the Netherlands from 1580 to 1620. Praised by his contemporaries for his versatility and prowess, Wtewael was capable of working across mediums on any scale, though it is his small paintings, such as the present work, that are his most prized. The fine brushstrokes and the glittering colors in this copper exploit the smooth, reflective surface of the metal support, and fully reveal Wtewael’s extraordinary skill. This painting further shines a light on this artist’s imaginative and inventive storytelling, for within this small composition, nearly 50 elegantly posed figures painted in a kaleidoscope of color have been cleverly assembled for a heavenly banquet set within a glade and upon an elaborate arrangement of clouds.

Jan van de Cappelle
A shipping scene on a calm sea, with a number of vessels and figures, and a jetty on the left
Estimate $4/6 million

This luminous scene is a particularly evocative and successful example of the calm, expansive seascapes that distinguished Jan van de Cappelle as one of the leading marine painters of the Dutch Golden Age. Bathed in a soft, warm light, this remarkably well-preserved large panel, which likely dates to the 1650s, radiates a mesmerizing effect that transports viewers to the peaceful waters of the Netherlandish coast.

Jacobus Vrel,
Street Scene with Two Figures Walking Away
Estimate $1.5/2 million

Jacobus Vrel
Street Scene with Figures In Conversation
Estimate $1/1.5 million

An enigmatic and mysterious master, Jacobus Vrel painted quiet street scenes that speak across the centuries in a way that is strangely affecting.  Vrel’s works are incredibly rare – around thirty eight are known, consisting mostly of interior scenes, street views and one church interior, of which nearly half are signed while dated examples range only from 1654 to 1662. The artist’s painting technique – a straightforward manner without glazes or other refinements – complements his unpretentious subject matter and suggests that he was quite possibly self-taught. Though many locations from Friesland to the Rhineland have been sought for his street scenes, they are, in fact, likely to be imaginary.

RENAISSANCE PAINTING IN EUROPE

Orazio Gentileschi
The Fall of the Rebel Angels
Estimate $2.5/3.5 million

Painted on a large piece of alabaster, this dynamic and dramatic Fall of the Rebel Angels is a relatively early work of Orazio Gentileschi. It was unknown until its reappearance in 2009, when it was quickly recognized by scholars as an important addition to the artist’s corpus. It is dateable to circa 1601/2, at the moment when Gentileschi begins to shift away from his mannerist beginnings to a more naturalistic style, due in part to his burgeoning friendship with Caravaggio.

Taddeo Gaddi
Saint Anthony Abbot
Estimate $800,000/1.2 million

This finely rendered gold ground panel of Saint Anthony Abbot is by Taddeo Gaddi, Giotto’s favorite and most successful pupil. A mature work of high quality and confidence, it dates to circa 1345-1350 and presumably once formed part of a polyptych in the Florentine Church of Santa Maria Vergine della Croce al Tempio, along with other panels found today in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museo Bandini in Fiesole. In this panel, Saint Anthony Abbot (circa 251-356), a hermit saint and the founder of monasticism, is visible in three-quarter length as an aged man wearing a plain monk’s cloak and cowl with remnants of his staff and its tau-shaped handle, he faces to the viewer’s left, with a downward gaze. He is expressively rendered with exquisite detail and sophistication so as to wholly capture the noble simplicity that defines his character.

Jan Sanders van Hemessen
Christ as Triumphant Redeemer
Estimate $400/600,000