Sotheby’s Master Paintings sale – 22 May

 SOTHEBY’S TO OFFER ONE OF THE GREATEST COLLECTIONS OF OLD MASTERS TO COME TO AUCTION IN LIVING MEMORY - Featuring Leading Artists from the 16 t h to the 19t h Centuries - Will be Offered in New York in May with an Estimate of $80 -120m 

The story of one of the greatest collections of Old Masters to come to auction in recent memory begins in earnest with a tiny jewel. During a visit to a Sotheby’s exhibition in January 1998, Mrs. Jordan Saunders encountered Francesco Guardi’s intimate painting of Venice, A View of the Church of the Redentore. So struck by its beauty, she described the work as “a little jewel” and swore “I heard that little picture speak to me.” A subsequent conversation with George Wachter, Sotheby’s Chairman and CoWorldwide Head of Old Master Paintings, and the purchase that followed, was to mark the beginning of a collecting adventure that resulted in one of the finest Old Master collections assembled in our times. With the help and guidance of George Wachter, the Saunders eagerly hunted for the masterworks that spoke to their keen eye for quality, beauty, rarity and provenance, assembling a collection remarkable both in its geographical scope and in its chronological sweep, ranging from 1520s Germany, by way of Dutch and Flemish, Italian, Spanish and French art of the 16th-19th centuries, and ending with an exceptional 1820s portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence. 

Comprising fifty-six works, many of which have been exhibited at leading institutions around the world, the collection will be offered for sale this May at Sotheby’s New York in a dedicated auction, with additional works offered in Sotheby’s Masters Week sale, and – with an estimate of $80-120m – is poised to break the record for any Old Masters collection offered at auction. 

"Partnering with the Saunders to build this extraordinary collection has been one of the great privileges of my career - and a true adventure. Starting in the late 1990s, I helped them scour the world for the best of the best, travelling together - sometimes at a moment’s notice - to unearth great works and seize fleeting opportunities around the globe. This collection could never have been assembled without the Saunders' steadfast determination, decisiveness, impeccable eye, and unwavering trust in me, for which I am deeply grateful. From exceptional Dutch pictures to marvelous Venetian Views by Guardi, from Lawrence’s unbelievably beautiful portrait to one of the most exquisite Meléndez still lifes, the collection is truly one of a kind. This auction is a profound full circle moment for me, and it is an honor to once again play a part in shepherding these works into the next great collections.” G E O R G E W A C H T E R , S O T H E B Y ’ S C H A I R M A N A N D C O -W O R L D W I D E H E A D O F O L D M A S T E R P A I N T I N G S

The auction in May comes on the heels of Sotheby’s 2024 auction, Elegance and Wonder: The Jordan Saunders Collection, which celebrated the interiors created by Jordan Saunders as a setting for her generous hospitality, and for the couple’s distinguished collection of Old Master paintings. The group of works to be offered this season has at its heart a remarkable group of still-lifes by Dutch and Flemish masters of the 17th century, alongside exceptional portraits and landscapes - many of them among the best works by the artists ever to appear at auction. 

COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS 

LANDSCAPES 

Francesco Guardi, Venice, A View of the Churches of San Giorgio Maggiore and Santa Maria della Salute, oil on canvas, estimated at $10-15 million together with Venice, A View of the Punta della Dogana and the Church of Santa Maria della Salute. Photo © Sotheby's

1. Francesco Guardi, Venice, A View of the Punta della Dogana and the Church of Santa Maria della Salute and Venice, A View of the Churches of San Giorgio Maggiore and Santa Maria della Salute, oil on canvas, a pair, Estimate $10-15 million 

Only a few years after the Saunders’ first encounter with Guardi’s Venice, A View of the Church of the Redentore, their love affair with the master of Venetian view painting, Francesco Guardi, reached its climax when this pair of spectacular works by the artist crossed the auction block at Sotheby’s. This was another example of an opportunity firmly grabbed by the Saunders. The Guardis were one of the last lots in the sale, which was going unusually slowly, and another collector who had shown considerable interest in the works decided to go for lunch. The Saunders won the painting, and in the words of Jordan, “while he got a sandwich, we got the paintings.” 

Formerly in the celebrated collection inherited by the French aristocrat, the Countess de Boisrouvray, Venice, A View of the Punta della Dogana and the Church of Santa Maria della Salute depicts a scene of gondolas sailing past The Dogana da Mar (Customs House of the Sea), and the church of Santa Maria della Salute - two of Venice’s most important buildings. Venice, A View of the Churches of San Giorgio Maggiore and Santa Maria della Salute dramatically depicts three more landmarks. Playing cleverly with reality, Guardi here reduced the space between the two islands in order to fit them into one image, filling the foreground with a fleet of gondolas to create a vibrant, spatially complex scene at the end of the day in Venice. 

2. Frans Post, View of Olinda with Ruins of the Jesuit Church, oil on panel, Estimate $6-8 million This Frans Post landscape was a remarkable discovery, having been uncovered in a barn attic by a family in Connecticut. After the family tried to sell the work privately, Sotheby’s George Wachter caught wind of a mysterious unknown Post, tracked the work down, and immediately approached the Saunders to see if they were interested in acquiring it for their collection. Throughout their collecting journey, the Saunders relied on a strong and trusting relationship with George – never more truly evidenced than when the three went to see the Post. They were confronted by an offputtingly dirty painting, covered in generations of dust and soot, but trusting his assurance that underneath the grime lay a perfectly preserved work, the couple purchased the painting on the spot. A postage stamp-size square was subsequently cleaned, revealing the brilliant blue sky of the masterpiece. Works by Post only rarely appear at auction: this painting is the most significant work by the artist to come to auction in three decades, and carries an estimate of $6-8 million - the highest estimate ever placed on a work by Post*. As part of an entourage that included poets and architects, as well as artists, Post had accompanied Prince Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen, the governor of the Dutch colonies in Brazil, on a grand visit to these territories. Post chose to paint an animated scene, intended perhaps to highlight Maurits’ legacy. * The record for Frans Post was set at Sotheby’s in January 1997 for $4.5 million 

STILL LIFE 

Jan Davidsz. De Heem, Still Life of Roses, Tulips, Lilies, Poppies, a Sunflower, an Iris, Honeysuckle and Other Flowers in a Glass Vase with Two Birds, a Grasshopper and a Snail, oil on canvas, estimated at $8-12 million. Photo © Sotheby's

1. Jan Davidsz. De Heem Still Life of Roses, Tulips, Lilies, Poppies, a Sunflower, an Iris, Honeysuckle and Other Flowers in a Glass Vase with Two Birds, a Grasshopper and a Snail, oil on canvas, Estimate $8-12 million. Among the very best paintings by Jan Davidsz. de Heem to appear at auction*, this vibrant, large-scale flower still-life was executed around 1674, towards the end of the artist’s career. Though a native of Utrecht, De Heem lived and worked for many years in Antwerp. He returned to Utrecht during the late 1660s, but was forced to leave again in 1671, when the city was threatened by French troops, living out the remainder of his life in Antwerp. The paintings, such as this one, that date from this final period were often laden with subtle political and religious messages, reflecting the turmoil of this war-torn period. *The current record for de Heem is $7.6m, set in 2020.

Luis Meléndez, Still Life with a Cauliflower, a Basket with Eggs, Leeks, and Fish, and Assorted Kitchen Utensils, oil on canvas, estimated at $5-8 million. Photo © Sotheby's

2. Luis Meléndez, Still Life with a Cauliflower, a Basket with Eggs, Leeks, and Fish, and Assorted Kitchen Utensils, oil on canvas, Estimate $5-8 million In 1999, the Saunders and George Wachter embarked on an impromptu trip to snowy Montreal for a rare viewing of the renowned Hornstein collection of Old Masters.Works by Meléndez, who is celebrated as one of the greatest Spanish still-life painters, only very rarely appear at auction, and this grand, life-like composition is one of the very best that has been offered: it is estimated to achieve $5-8 million - the highest estimate ever placed on a work by the artist. Executed in his signature vertical format, Still Life with a Cauliflower is the only example of a work featuring a cauliflower in the artist’s oeuvre. The composition juxtaposes the striking vegetable with everyday items nestled in a wicker basket beside a copper bowl – a motif that also features in his Still Life with Pigeons, A Food Basket, and Bowls in the Prado. The prominent presence of the cauliflower alludes to the artist’s ties to the Spanish Royal Family, as the vegetable, which was rare at the time, was grown in the garden at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. 

3. Adriaen Coorte, Wild Strawberries in a Kraak Wan-Li Bowl, oil on canvas, unlined, Estimate $2-3 million Coorte was active for only 24 years, painting just one hundred works in that time, and this restrained composition captures the very best qualities of his rare works. He viewed the world with a classical restraint, idealizing forms to enable them to gain lasting significance and a timeless quality. Wild strawberries were considered seasonal delights to be savored on special occasions, here placed in a porcelain bowl imported from China (the design of spotted deer elegantly echoing the patterns in the fruit’s pips). The strawberry was widely regarded as a ‘fruit of paradise’, a connotation that derived from Ovid, and here the bowl is filled to the brim with luscious berries in a vibrant affirmation of life. 

 PORTRAITURE 

1. Sir Thomas Lawrence, Portrait of Miss Julia Peel, Oil on canvas, Estimate $6-8 million This portrait of Julia Beatrice Peel, the eldest child of British Prime Minister Robert Peel and his wife Lady Peel was executed circa 1826 when their daughter was about five years old. In addition to the royal patronage of Kings George III and George IV, the artist received significant support from Robert Peel. Correspondence between Lawrence and Peel reveals that the artist and the politician engaged in lively exchanges regarding the development of the painting. Throughout the course of their sittings, Lawrence and Peel disagreed on which type of dog should be portrayed in Miss Peel’s lap; while Peel advocated for one of their family pets, he ultimately acquiesced to Lawrence’s recommendation of a Blenheim spaniel - a breed which the artist thought would better reflect Julia’s future as a great lady. Lawrence also painted a grand portrait of Julia’s mother, Lady Peel, which is now in The Frick Collection, in New York. The portrait of Miss Julia Peel is the finest example of a work by Lawrence to appear at auction in over two decades; the record price (of $4m) for the artist was set nearly 20 years ago, in 2006. 

Frans Hals, Boy Playing the Violin; Girl Singing, oil on panel, a pair, estimated at $6-8 million. Photo © Sotheby's

2. Frans Hals, Boy Playing the Violin; Girl Singing (a pair), oil on panel, a pair, Estimate $6-8 million Frans Hals painted this rare pair of portraits in the mid-to-late 1620s, when he began to explore genre scenes of musical moments alongside his typical formal portraiture. The artist's focus on this theme could have been influenced by his situation at the time, as his home was filled with children. It is possible that two of his children, Sara and Frans, served as the models in this joyous scene. The works may well relate to the theme of the Five Senses, with the boy representing Hearing and the girl representing Sight. They likely once decorated a piece of furniture, such as a cabinet for musical instruments. The pair was recently exhibited at London’s National Gallery. 

Gerrit Dou, Man Writing in an Artist's Studio, oil on panel, estimated at $5-7 million. Photo © Sotheby's

3. Gerrit Dou, Man Writing in an Artist's Studio, oil on panel, Estimate $5-7 million “ A student of Rembrandt, Dou was – alongside his teacher – the most revered and seventeenth-century Dutch artist. He was widely admired, both for his painterly skill (the subtle lighting effects and brilliantly rendered textures in his paintings) and for his ability to convey moral and philosophical messages through his compositions. Here, we have an apparently ‘ordinary’ moment of daily life, with a central figure seated before a painter's easel, illuminated by a soft light. The central figure, an elderly scholar writing in a folio, is absorbed in thought, surrounded by symbolic objects – a violin, a globe, a Bible and an extinguished candle - all subtly evoking the panoply of life’s pleasures and its evanescence. 

Christie’ Old Masters and 19th Century Paintings May 20-21

  Christie’s spring season in New York offers collectors two auction opportunities to acquire works in one of the most active and vibrant categories in the auction market: Old Masters and 19th Century Paintings from a Private Collection - Selling Without Reserve taking place live on 20 May, and Old Masters and 19th Century Paintings, taking place live on 21 May, at Rockefeller Center. The first sale offers a private collection of Old Master and 19th Century Paintings sold entirely without reserve; the second sale presents works that span six centuries of European art. 

Highlights of the Old Master paintings on offer include, 

a recently rediscovered gold-ground image of the Marriage of the Virgin by Lorenzo Veneziano (estimate: $80,000-120,000), 

and an Allegory of Summer, attributed to Jacob Gimmer (estimate: $250,000-350,000); 

a portrait of Vincenzo Morosini by Tintoretto (estimate: $300,000-500,000). 

Old Master highlights include a group of more than 20 works that have not been on the market for decades, sold by the Arizona State University Art Museum to benefit acquisitions and direct collections care. Leading these works is 

an impressive still life by the Golden Age Dutch painter, Willem Kalf (estimate: $300,000-500,000). 

There is also a varied selection of 19th century works. Highlights include 

OLD MASTERS AND 19TH CENTURY PAINTINGS | GUSTAVE COURBET (FRENCH, 1819-1877) La forêt en hiver, oil on canvas, 21¾ x 28½ in. (55.2 x 72.4 cm.) Painted circa 1872-1873. Estimate: $500,000-700,000 

a snowy landscape in exceptional condition by Gustave Courbet (estimate $500,000-700,000); 

a large-scale painting by Eugene von Blaas that has not been seen on the market since it was purchased in 1910, the year it was painted (estimate: $200,000-300,0000); a

n oil study of arms Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (estimate: $100,000-150,000).

From Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes

 Barnes Foundation

June 29–August 31, 2025

Philadelphia, PA, March 17, 2025—In summer 2025, the Barnes Foundation will present From Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes, an exhibition featuring more than 50 iconic paintings from the first floor of the collection galleries by Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, and other European artists. Curated by Cindy Kang, this exhibition reflects the expansion of the Barnes’s educational program, emphasizing the historical and cultural context of the worksl.

Charting a journey through France, this exhibition examines how place informed the work of modern painters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The exhibition begins in Paris and its suburbs, dynamic places that were at once semi-industrial, as in Van Gogh’s The Factory, and sites of blooming suburban leisure, as in Monet’s Madame Monet Embroidering. Life in and around Paris and the coastal regions of Normandy and Brittany inspired the radical brushwork, light palette, and contemporary subject matter of impressionists like Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, their mentor and friend Édouard Manet, and the post-impressionists. Several of these painters subsequently moved to the South of France, seeking the warmer climate and dazzling sunlight that intensified their colors.

From Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes highlights Van Gogh’s time in Arles and Saint-Rémy—uniting, for the first time, several Van Gogh paintings from the Barnes collection on one wall—as well as Cézanne’s deep connection to his native Provence, with nearly 20 works depicting scenes from the countryside and his family home, the Jas de Bouffan. Finally, the exhibition returns to Paris to explore a new generation of painters who flocked there from across Europe—Amedeo Modigliani, Chaïm Soutine, Giorgio de Chirico, and Joan Miró—and reaffirmed the French capital’s place as the center of modern art.

Creating space for new conversations between works—a critical aspect of education, research, and public access—this exhibition will provide visitors a rare opportunity to temporarily experience these paintings in new contexts and juxtapositions. While this exhibition is on view, rooms 2 through 13 of the Barnes collection will be closed for a floor refinishing project. Following the exhibition, the paintings will return to their original locations in the galleries.

“Featuring a wide variety of works from the first-floor galleries, this exhibition emphasizes the historical and cultural context of the paintings and offers the extraordinary opportunity for visitors to encounter beloved French paintings from the Barnes collection in new conversations,” says Thom Collins, Neubauer Family Executive Director and President.

“By seeing these works juxtaposed for the first time, visitors will discover how particular places—with their distinct landscapes, light, and people—shaped the work of each artist,” says Cindy Kang. “I hope this exhibition will inspire audiences to see these well-known paintings in a new light and with a renewed sense of appreciation and level of understanding.”

The exhibition will feature more than 50 major paintings from the first floor of the Barnes collection. Highlights include:

• Édouard Manet, Laundry (1875): In this canvas, a woman washes linen in a flower-filled garden in Paris. A child to her right, as if eager to help, tugs at the pail of suds. Washerwomen were popular figures in 19th-century art and literature. Manet’s good friend Émile Zola, for example, described their tough lives in his novels. But this depiction is idyllic. Flashes of white paint—offset by grays and blues—become sunlight on the drying fabric. After the jury of the French Salon, the annual state art exhibition, rejected this painting, Manet exhibited it independently.
  
• Claude Monet, The Studio Boat (1876): The figure in the boat is likely the artist, who outfitted this floating studio with all his supplies so that he could paint from the middle of the Seine River. Boating culture in Argenteuil, a suburb of Paris, inspired him to have this vessel constructed to his specifications. Often Monet would anchor his boat when working. But sometimes he painted as he drifted down the river, creating landscapes that are more a collection of momentary glimpses rather than a depiction of one specific spot.
• Vincent van Gogh, The Postman (Joseph Étienne-Roulin) (1889): Van Gogh probably met Joseph Étienne-Roulin, a postman at the Arles train station in the South of France, when the artist rented a room above the nearby Café de la Gare. The two shared similar left-leaning political views and became close friends; in fact, it was Roulin who cared for Van Gogh during his hospital stay in nearby Saint-Rémy. Van Gogh painted six portraits of Roulin between 1888 and 1889 as well as several of Roulin’s wife and children.
• Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire (1892–95): Mont Sainte-Victoire, which towers over the Aix-en-Provence region of southern France, was one of Cézanne’s favorite motifs. He spent his childhood exploring its terrain, and he painted it several dozen times from different vantage points. The mountain also held symbolic meaning to the artist, representing the ancient countryside during a moment of rapid industrialization and modernization. On the right side of the canvas, one can just make out an ancient Roman aqueduct.
  
• Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of the Red-Headed Woman (1918): Modigliani’s portrait of a woman who was part of his international, bohemian circles in Paris suggests how women’s lives had changed by the early 20th century. With her vivid hair and strapless dress, she drapes her shoulder over the chair and addresses the viewer with an unapologetic gaze. Her revealing dress shows how bold new fashions could represent a form of freedom. Modigliani used a thick round brush to describe the model’s flesh, and the textured surface seems to invite touch.

ABOUT THE CURATOR
Cindy Kang, PhD, is curator at the Barnes. She is a specialist in modern European art and particularly focuses on the relationship between painting and decorative arts in late 19th- and early 20th-century France. At the Barnes, she co-curated Matisse & Renoir: New Encounters at the Barnes (2024) and Marie Laurencin: Sapphic Paris (2023–24); curated Marie Cuttoli: The Modern Thread from Miró to Man Ray (2020); and served as managing curator for Berthe Morisot: Woman Impressionist (2018–19) and Renoir: Father and Son / Painting and Cinema (2018). Additionally, she commissioned the exhibition Water, Wind, Breath: Southwest Native Art in Community (2022) and co-led the institution’s land acknowledgment process. Kang previously held curatorial and research positions at the Frick Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Bard Graduate Center, and was a scholar-in-residence at the Getty Research Institute. She received her PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.

EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION
From Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes is organized by the Barnes and curated by Cindy Kang.

J. M. W. Turner: Romance and Reality

 The Yale Center for British Art (YCBA)

March 29 through July 27, 2025

Born 250 years ago, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) was one of the most virtuosic and complex artists of nineteenth-century England. This exhibition will draw from the Center’s rich holdings of the artist’s work, encompassing all media and phases of his nearly sixty-year career. This is the first show at the YCBA to focus on Turner in more than thirty years, displaying the complete arc of his radical artistic evolution. The exhibition will examine the contradictory nature of this revolutionary figure, who was as inspired by the past luminaries of the European landscape tradition as he was determined to surpass their greatest achievements.

“We are thrilled to welcome visitors back to the museum to reconnect with our extraordinary collections,” said Martina Droth, Paul Mellon Director. “Turner is an artist whose groundbreaking works continue to inspire. His work has long been a cornerstone of our collection and we are excited to show our returning and new visitors the full range of our Turner holdings.”

“The reopening of the museum on the eve of the 250th anniversary of Turner’s birth offers a timely opportunity to commemorate the unmatched range of one of Britain’s most innovative artists,” said Lucinda Lax, Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the YCBA. “Turner revolutionized the genre of landscape painting in ways that continue to captivate contemporary audiences. This exhibition provides a wide-ranging overview of his transformative practice, beginning with his early meticulously rendered topographical views and ending with the evocative impressions of the natural world from his later years.”

Romance and Reality will feature some of the museum’s most iconic oil paintings. From Turner’s luminous masterpiece Dort, or Dordrecht: The Dort Packet-Boat from Rotterdam Becalmed (1818) to the atmospheric, nearly abstract landscape Inverary Pier, Loch Fyne: Morning (ca. 1845), Turner developed a highly personal vision through his depictions of the landscape. Alongside these two major works, the exhibition will include outstanding watercolors and prints, as well as the artist’s only complete sketchbook outside of the British Isles. Together they reveal not only his astounding technical skill but also the powerful combination of his profound idealism with his acute awareness of the tragic realities of human life.

Turner’s celebrated later painting Staffa, Fingal’s Cave (1831–32) will open this exhibition on the third floor of the museum—a space designed especially for the display of light-sensitive, rarely seen works on paper. This iconic image typifies the artist’s expressive handling of paint, while his confident marshaling of a series of recurring motifs—most notably a storm-ridden sea—enables him to evoke intense emotions and articulate stunning visual effects. His enduring fascination with representing the vastness of the sea was indelibly shaped by his time in the coastal town of Margate and spans his entire career, from his first oil painting of a maritime subject exhibited in 1796 to his economical drawings of the English coast in the “Channel Sketchbook” (ca. 1845), a treasure of the museum’s collection that is also on display in this show.

The exhibition will unfold in six thematic sections. These offer multiple insights into the rigor of his training as a draftsman, his relentless drive to outstrip his predecessors, his technical achievements, and his growing obsession with conveying light and atmosphere, as well as the sense of tragedy that tinged his later works. A broad selection of prints will illuminate the artist’s deep engagement with this medium, embodied in his ample notations for engravers, while his contributions to commercially successful print series enable visitors to glimpse his shrewd business acumen. With his “Little Liber” series (ca. 1824–26)—a body of prints apparently produced independently by the artist but never published—Turner expanded the tonal possibilities of the mezzotint, achieving new pictorial depths. Dramatic watercolor paintings such as his sublime Vesuvius in Eruption (1818), with its spectacular shower of molten magma, demonstrate his ability to render awe-inspiring scenes from the natural world with intensity and imagination without precedent in this medium. As a whole, the exhibition will convey a nuanced understanding of Turner’s artistic legacy, revealing with new clarity the tensions and contradictions that underlie his daring and brilliant oeuvre.

J. M. W. Turner: Romance and Reality will be on view at the Yale Center for British Art from March 29 through July 27, 2025.

In spring 2026, the acclaimed oil painting Dort, or Dordrecht: The Dort Packet-Boat from Rotterdam Becalmed (1818), along with a selection of other works by Turner, will be on loan to the Dordrechts Museum in the Netherlands. This will mark the first time that Dort will be seen by audiences outside of North America and the UK.

The exhibition is generously supported by the Dr. Lee MacCormick Edwards Charitable Foundation.

About J. M. W. Turner

Born in the bohemian London district of Covent Garden to a barber and wigmaker, Turner began painting as a child. His early watercolor paintings of English monuments and landscapes reflect the precision of his initial training as an architectural topographer. By age fourteen, he started attending classes at the Royal Academy, considered Britain’s most prestigious artistic institution. He remained active with the academy throughout his career, becoming a full member by age twenty-six and assuming the role of Professor of Perspective only five years later. Over his six-decade career, he traveled extensively within England and around many countries in continental Europe, making hundreds of sketches on the spot. These drawings—admirable in their own right—were the source for some of his most extraordinary oil paintings. Following his death in 1851, three hundred oil paintings and more than twenty thousand works on paper entered the collection of the Tate Gallery in London by his bequest. 

Related Publications 

Turner, the inaugural installment in the YCBA’s Collection Series of illustrated books, explores the museum’s outstanding Turner holdings—the largest outside the United Kingdom—in a manner that engages the general reader and expert alike. Authored by Ian Warrell with an essay by Gillian Forrester, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the artist’s career, places the works within their historical and cultural context, and includes many new discoveries regarding the identification of locations, landscapes, and dates. It includes six sections of beautifully reproduced plates.

Turner’s Last Sketchbook is a facsimile of the artist’s last known intact sketchbook, now in the YCBA collection. Turner used it on the coast of the English Channel in Kent, in and around Margate, from June to September 1845. 

Romney: Brilliant Contrasts in Georgian England

Yale University Art Gallery 

March 28 – September 14, 2025 

The Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art are pleased to present Romney: Brilliant Contrasts in Georgian England, an exhibition featuring works by the British portrait painter George Romney (1734–1802) in celebration of the Center’s reopening. Remembered today for his fashionable likenesses of wealthy patrons, Romney was rivaled in late eighteenth-century London only by the now better-known artists Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds. His aspiration to be a history painter was never realized, but his many drawings serve as a testament to those greater ambitions. These swiftly executed sketches reveal a mastery of form, line,
and light, while his proficiency as a musician and early experience building musical instruments distinguish him among his polymath contemporaries. To fully explore the era’s subjects and sensibilities, paintings and drawings by Romney from both museums are shown alongside selections from the Morris Steinert Collection of Musical Instruments. Unveiling the contrasts in his artistic practice, the exhibition presents a forceful vision—one that has resonated with admirers through the centuries, from William Blake in Romney’s own time to the portraitist Kehinde Wiley today.

Exhibition Credits

. Organized by Brooke Krancer, Senior Curatorial Assistant, Yale Center for British Art, with the assistance of Martina Droth, Paul Mellon Director, Yale Center for British Art, and Laurence Kanter, Chief Curator and the Lionel Goldfrank III Curator of European Art, Yale University Art Gallery.

Images

George Romney, A Conversation (The Artist's Brothers Peter and James Romney), 1766, oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection 

George Romney (1734–1802), Study of a Clouded Moonlit Sky, undated, black wash on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection 

George Romney, Study of Two Figures, late 1770s, brown ink on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper, Yale Center for British Art, Yale Art Gallery Collection, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. Richardson Dilworth, B.A. 1938 

George Romney, Portrait of A Man, between 1758 and 1760, oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection 

George Romney, Howard Visiting a Prison, between 1790 and 1794, black and gray wash with black ink over graphite on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper, Yale Center for British Art, Yale Art Gallery Collection, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. Richardson Dilworth, B.A. 1938 

George Romney, John Flaxman Modeling the Bust of William Hayley, 1795 to 1796, oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection 

Dorotheum Modern Art 20 May 2025.

One of the highlights is 

Female Nude, Leaning on Her Arm (1912), a gouache with watercolour and pencil by Egon Schiele, a leading figure of Viennese Modernism. The work presents an unusual pose seen from above, with the model’s body twisting in opposing directions and her head dramatically inclined downward. The sitter is believed to be Wally Neuzil, Schiele’s long-time companion (estimate €400,000–600,000). 

Also featured is a pencil drawing by Schiele’s contemporary and friend Gustav Klimt, Reading or Singing from the Front, from around 1907, offered with an estimate of €40,000–60,000. 

Modern Landscapes
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, following his 1881 journey to Italy, immersed himself in the tradition of classical landscape painting. Seeking an Arcadian vision, he found inspiration in the untouched scenery of southern France. It was in Cagnes-sur-Mer—home today to the Musée Renoir—that he created 

Paysage à Cagnes in 1898. This painting exemplifies Renoir’s dedication to Impressionist ideals, especially the practice of painting en plein air (€220,000–330,000). Dreamlike and poetic, 

Marc Chagall’s Le retour au village reveals a night-time rural scene bathed in deep blue, interwoven with recurring themes dear to the artist: lovers, a floral bouquet and the moon (€200,000–300,000). 

Giorgio de Chirico’s metaphysical composition Piazza d’Italia is expected to fetch €250,000–350,000.

Carl Moll evokes the freshness of spring in Garten in Döbling (1908), a depiction of a verdant park once owned by Dr Julius Tandler, a notable social reformer of interwar Red Vienna (€100,000–180,000). In contrast, Alfons Walde offers a wintery alpine vista with his snow-laden mountain scene Rast (€70,000–130,000).

Heritage’s American Art EventMay 16

 

Masterworks by Ernie Barnes, Norman Rockwell, Maurice Sendak, Frederic Edwin Church and More Celebrate the Imagination and Storytelling of a Nation

One of the hallmarks of Heritage's approach to and definition of American Art, which anchors its abundant relationship with all Art and Design, is that American Art for Heritage is the work that has illustrated not only our nation's history, but also its character — its hopes, fears, strengths, flaws and evolution. The disposition of the United States, still a young country after all, is defined by its stories and storytelling about who we are and how we've arrived here, and its May 16 American Art Auction is nothing if not packed with works that tell stories and paint a picture, as it were, of a people's shared disposition defined by optimism, ambition, community and imagination. The tightly curated auction is shaped by a full suite of works by the inimitable Ernie Barnes along with a trove of significant Golden Age and Modern Illustration by Norman Rockwell, J.C. Leyendecker and Maurice Sendak, a stunning landscape by Frederic Church and a venture into the American West by William Robinson Leigh. The auction is itself a turning point in Heritage's tale of love for classic American Art as a category. "American Art has always been the beating heart of our nation's story, and it's an extraordinary privilege to bring together such a dynamic, narrative-rich collection for this auction," says Aviva Lehmann, Heritage's Senior Vice President of American Art. "This auction is a tribute to the artists who have captured our collective dreams, struggles, and triumphs with honesty and beauty. We're honored to present a selection that feels both timeless and urgently alive." Ernie Barnes (American, 1938-2009) Anchor Leg, 1983 Ernie Barnes (American, 1938-2009) Hold the Pocket, 1982 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 60 inches (91.4 x 152.4 cm) Signed lower right: Ernie Barnes Barnes, the former pro footballer who the Denver Broncos' head coach once fined for sketching during team meetings, is one of the 20th century's most distinctive painters and in the 1980s was befriended by John Mecom Jr., at the time the seasoned owner of the NFL's New Orleans Saints. Mecom Jr. commissioned Barnes — known for his incisive and expressionist take on bodies working in unison and in tension — to produce a handful of sports-themed paintings during Barnes' runup to create official works for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The resulting Barnes paintings for Mecom Jr.'s collection anchor the May 16 auction and are a tour de force of the artist's fluid neo-mannerist depiction of the physicality of his world — the way bodies merge, move, interact and dissolve into one another. They are slices of a warm and thriving community life of movement:  Sandlot Saints (1983) with its depiction of an informal and joyous football game that's broken out in an abandoned city lot; Anchor Leg (1983) which captures the climactic moment of a group of relay-race sprinters' last explosive burst across the line; Hold the Pocket (1982) which invites the viewer into the heart of the frenzied immediacy of the football scrum; and  Opening Ceremonies (1984), with its triumphant panorama of communal elation at the start of a Olympic Summer Games. "Here, with near-Bruegelian density, Barnes renders a vibrant crowd bursting with energy that draws the viewer in not as an observer but as a participant," says Lehmann. Fittingly, the narrative prowess of Barnes' vision is joined in this auction by that of America's most significant artist-illustrators. For decades the magazine The Saturday Evening Post defined the greatest of American Illustration on and between its covers — Norman Rockwell and J.C. Leyendecker were its leading lights and their work for the Post made them household names. The two Norman Rockwell paintings in this auction are iconic Post works: the cover painting Marionettes (1932) in which the artist masterfully engages with the themes of performance and control, offering a poignant meditation on the interrelationship between creator and creation and exemplifies Rockwell's ability to marry technical precision with emotional nuance; and his magazine interior work Waiting Room (1937), a quietly powerful painting which distills the universal experience of anxious anticipation into an emotionally charged vignette, transforming a mundane doctor's office into a compelling scene of human drama. Leyendecker's three Post cover paintings in the auction exemplify his mastery of the form — the playful and graphic perfection of  Diving In (1935), which comes to Heritage from the collection of master illustrator Michael Dolas, distills a fleeting moment of youthful exuberance into a scene of balletic grace. Maurice Sendak's name is synonymous with his crowning achievement, Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963, and this auction offers a piece of astonishing Wild Things history: Sendak's very first illustration for his landmark book marks is not only a critical turning point in the artist's celebrated career but also a monumental event in the history of children's literature. "Never before has a Maurice Sendak drawing of this historical and artistic magnitude been offered publicly," says Lehmann. "This pivotal watercolor directly inspired the final, award-winning illustrations published in the seminal book, revealing Sendak's meticulous visual development from initial concept to finished masterpiece." The 1963 work depicts the now-iconic moment when Max, the young protagonist, arrives by boat at the fantastical island inhabited by the "Wild Things," and here the monsters appear leaner, somewhat gentler, yet still vibrant, reflecting Sendak's early conception of characters who would become enduring symbols of imagination and childhood adventure. Another work in the auction that captures a seemingly fantastic land is Frederic Edwin Church's Valley of Lebanon (1869), a painting with an inception and exhibition history as expansive as its subject. As Dr. Gerald L. Carr writes for the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's oil paintings, "Church painted Valley of the Lebanon during his only transatlantic sojourn, with his principle overseas destination being Ottoman Syria. Church's Mediterranean studio paintings of the late 1860s onward harken Old Masters as well as recent painters J. M. W. Turner, David Roberts and Thomas Cole, and are generally meditative in mood: Valley of Lebanon depicts an inland desert ambience with nearby upright and fallen ruins, a distant castle and incipient moonrise."