SOTHEBY’S OLD MASTERS SALE IN LONDON

PAINTINGS WITH PRIZED PROVENANCE

Herri met de Bles and Sir Peter Paul Rubens, The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist in an extensive landscape with travellers (estimate: £600,000-800,000)

The sale offers a recently rediscovered landscape – a rare and remarkable work by Herri met de Bles, one of the earliest European painters of landscape – that not only belonged to Sir Peter Paul Rubens but was also remodelled by the artist himself. As well as showcasing all the elements that contributed to Herri met de Bles’ lasting success, this painting sheds light on a fascinating aspect of Rubens’s creative working practice.

Met de Bles – nicknamed Civetta (Little Owl) for his idiosyncratic signature in the form of an owl (here seen sitting on a cage of one of the travellers) – was one of the most celebrated artists of the new genre of landscape painting, and one of its earliest practitioners in The Netherlands.

Rubens’ habit of collecting and adapting works by other masters is well known and a practice he sustained throughout his career. These were usually original designs by known or anonymous artists, or copies after well-known paintings, sculptures or graphic models. This Holy Family by Met de Bles undoubtedly posed a challenge to his creative spirit and inventiveness. Rubens’ intervention in this work solely relates to the arrangement of the main group of figures, which were likely originally executed by an anonymous specialist figure painter within Met de Bles’ workshop. Met de Bles’s extravagant landscape, rich in fine and meticulous underdrawing, remains unaltered.

Bartholomäus Zeitblom, The wings of an altarpiece: Wilhelm von Schwendi (d. 1522); Barbara Krafft von Dellmensingen (d. 1538) (estimate: £400,000-600,000)

Bartholomäus Zeitblom’s distinctively serene style is perfectly captured in these large, late medieval altarpiece wings of nobleman Wilhelm von Schwendi and his wife Barbara Krafft von Dellmensingen. Both are dressed in contemporary black robes, Wilhelm’s trimmed with golden-brown fur and Barbara’s with white fur, with delicate rosary beads in their hands.

Painted circa 1500, the two panels originally served as the fixed outer wings of a carved and painted altarpiece donated by the kneeling couple to St Anna’s Chapel in the south German village of Schwendi, near Ulm (where the family were local rulers). In 1758, the family of the female donor removed the panels from the altarpiece, and they have descended through the same line ever since. These beautifully vibrant panels not only have an unbroken provenance since their creation but are also among the best-preserved donor panels by Zeitblom that still exist today.

Bartholomäus Zeitblom was born in around 1455, and by 1482 moved to the prosperous city of Ulm, where he remained until his death. Over time, Zeitblom became the head of one of the most productive workshops in Ulm, in a period marked by high demand for small, carved altarpieces. He enjoyed the patronage of some of the most important figures of the region, including the knight George von Ehingen (the artist’s altarpiece for von Ehingen, now housed in the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart, was praised by poet Justinus Kerner two centuries later as the work of ‘a German Leonardo’). Works by Zeitblom are incredibly rare on the market, with most of his commissions originally housed in ecclesiastical buildings – many of which lost their altarpieces in the early 19th century with the Napoleonic invasion – and the finest examples now held in museums.

FURTHER STANDOUT LOTS

Sandro Botticelli and Studio, The Madonna and Child, a landscape through a window beyond (estimate: £3,000,000 – 5,000,000)

This beautiful private devotional image representing The Madonna and Child is a characteristic late work by Botticelli, datable to the 1490s.

As with the likes of El Greco and Titian, Botticelli’s studio played a more active role towards the end of his career and as such, the involvement of a studio assistant in certain areas of the painting, such as some of the draperies, should not be discounted. In 2012 however, a technical analysis carried out by the Metropolitan Museum’s conservator revealed some interesting information, suggesting the leading role in the design and execution of the work by the master himself. In particular, the painting was studied with infrared reflectography to reveal extensive areas of underdrawing rendered with great freedom, creativity and dexterity and with numerous changes to detail within the overall design. Botticelli is known to have been methodical in the preparation of his paintings. He typically sketched out the composition using a carbon pigment, making various adaptations and changes to the overall design, as is clearly visible in the infrared of this work.

At the turn of the 20th century, The Madonna and Child belonged to distinguished banker and philanthropist Alfred de Rothschild, son of Lionel de Rothschild and Baroness Charlotte von Rothschild. A passionate art collector, he was on the board of both the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection, and this work hung in his residence at 1 Seamore Place, London. On his death in 1918 he bequeathed it to his daughter Almina, who was married to George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon of Highclere Castle. Among other things, her vast dowry financed Howard Carter’s remarkable expedition to excavate Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. In 1925, the Countess sold this painting at auction, along with a number of others that had decorated the impressive interiors of her father’s home.

Canaletto, Venice, The Churches of the Redentore and San Giacomo & The Prisons and the bridge of Sighs (estimate: £2,500,0000 – 3,500,000)

This pair of paintings in near pristine condition captures waterfront views of two of Venice’s most imposing landmarks, with Canaletto’s characteristic light tonality, attention to detail and delicate touch. While the Redentore composition exists in more than one version, the Prisons is a unique representation of which no other version is known. Animated with fashionable figures, as well as gondolas that glide in the foreground, this pair of vedute constitutes an enduring example of why Canaletto has long remained the undisputed leader of Venetian view painting.

In May 1746, at the age of nearly fifty, Canaletto having been based in Venice for much of his career, moved to London, where he had a well-established reputation among his British clientele. The first owner of the paintings was the Neave Family of Dagnam Park Essex, who assembled a number of important works by Antonio Canaletto (and his school) from various moments in his career, thought to have been acquired directly from the artist by Sir Richard Neave (a successful merchant and director of the Bank of England). The pair have remained together since then.