To Be Sold At Christie’s London On 8 July, 2014
London – Christie’s is pleased to announce that a striking head study by Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), which was recently re-discovered on the BBC television progamme The Antiques Roadshow, will be offered at Christie’s Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale, on Tuesday 8 July (estimate: £300,000-500,000, illustrated above). This work is a preparatory sketch for van Dyck’s full-length group portrait of The Magistrates of Brussels, which was painted in Brussels in 1634-35, when the artist was at the height of his powers. The painting was bought 12 years ago by Father Jamie MacLeod from an antiques shop in Cheshire for just £400. The proceeds of the sale will go towards the acquisition of new church bells for Whaley Hall Ecumenical Retreat House in Derbyshire to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War. This work will be exhibited for the first time ahead of the sale when it goes on free public view at Christie’s New York on 31 May to 3 June; it will also be on view in London ahead of the sale, on 5 to 8 July.
