Triumph for the Old Master & 19th Century Art sales

The Old Master & 19th Century sales closed with an exceptional result of more than of €31,7M / $34,8M, confirming Artcurial’s leading position in the Old Master market.

In front of a crowded room, Artcurial and Cabinet Turquin presented on March 23 a masterpiece of Western painting, The basket of Wild Strawberries by Jean-Siméon Chardin, from the Eudoxe Marcille collection. Under the hammer of Matthieu Fournier, the highly coveted still life fetched €24,4M / $26,8M.

After great bidding battles in the auction room, the artwork broke all records:

World record for a work by the artist sold at auctionWorld record for a French old masters painting sold at auctionRecord for an artwork sold at Artcurial

« In 2022 our teams have enjoyed a magical encounter with one of the greatest masterpieces of French painting. Beyond the personal and private emotion aroused by this treasure, it is a source of great pride that Artcurial has been offered the opportunity to sell the first painting in its history for over €24M on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the leading French auction house. »

Matthieu Fournier,

Auctioneer

Director of the Old Master & 19th CenturyArt department at Artcurial

The auction also recorded other fine bids, such as Bernardo Daddi’s masterpiece, Saint Dominic resurrecting the young Napoleone Orsini, which was sold for €1,3M / $1,4M, six times its estimate.

Three other world records were set during the sale: Gabriel Loppé’s painting The Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice) and the Grands Charmoz, Chamonix sold for €419,840 / $461,824, becoming the most expensive work by the artist at auction; Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux’s sculpture Why born enslaved?, sold for €216,480 / $238,128, setting a world record for a terracotta by the artist on this subject at auction; and a sanguine by Boccaccio Boccaccino, The Birth of the Virgin, sold for €91,840 / $101,024, a world record for a drawing by the artist at auction.

The auction was also marked by the attribution of Pieter Brueghel’s The Bird Trap, sold for €419,840 / $461,824, as well as Mattia Preti’s The Prodigal Son, sold for €393,600 / $432,960.

Twelve pre-emption and acquisitions were also recorded, testifying to the very high quality of the artworks presented at this sale. The Château de Chantilly acquired a drawing by François Quesnel, Portrait of a young boy for €36,736 / $40,409, while the Château de Versailles bid for the Portrait of the flower painter Catherine Duchemin, and offered itself, for €301,760 / $331,936, the portrait of the first female painter of the Académie. The Louvre Museum pre-empted two works: a sanguine by Boccaccio Boccaccino, The Birth of the Virgin, for €91,840 / $101,024, and a terracotta sketch of the Caryatid from the pavillon de l’Horloge at the Louvre attributed to Jacques Sarazin for €107,584 / $118,342.

On March 24, the Charles Auzoux Collection was sold for a total of almost €800,000, with two sculptures by Aimé-Jules Dalou, including the Bacchanale, which was sold for €183,680 / $202,048, and the Grumpy face by Jean-Joseph Carriès, which fetched €68,224 / $75,046, six times its estimate.

The sale was also marked by four pre-emptions and two museum purchases.

Information
See results of the Old Master & 19th Century Art sale

See results of the Charles Auzoux Collection sale

Contact
Matthieu Fournier

Tél +33 1 42 99 20 26