AO AUCTION RESULTS: TURNER & RUBINS ARE TOP LOTS AT SOTHEBY’S & CHRISTIE’S OLD MASTER AUCTIONS LONDON JULY 6 & 7
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
J. M. W. Turner, Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino, 1839 (estimate £12-18 million, realized £29,721,250), via Sothebys.com
Master Paintings Week continues in London after a boost from the Christie’s and Sotheby’s Old Master auctions that took place on July 6th and 7th. The Sotheby’s auction earned £53,484,350 against a high estimate of £50.8 million, while the Christie’s sale realized £42.3 million against a pre-sale estimate of £36.9–55.3 million (totals realized include buyer’s premium, estimates do not). More than half of the Sotheby’s earnings came from the sale of a single canvas by J. M. W. Turner, which sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles for a staggering £29,721,250. The painting, showing a view of the Italian capital from the Capitoline Hill, has a sterling provenance and equally impressive exhibition history. The sale established a new record for the artist at auction.
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