Re-discovery of a Renaissance Portrait: The Old Masters Auction on 21st May

A Young Nobleman by Bernard van Orley is set to become a star among the Old Masters. Dutch still lifes continue the success story of this genre at Lempertz.

For around half a century, this portrait of a nobleman by the Flemish Renaissance master Barend van Orley was known to art historians only through a black-and-white photograph, having last been sold at auction from the collection of Baron Mayer de Rothschild and the Earls of Rosebery at Mentmore House. At the auction held by Lempertz in Cologne, this finely conceived and executed portrait of a nobleman attracted considerable interest, as there are hardly any works by the painter left in private hands; he is believed to have studied under Raphael himself during his stay in Italy between 1509 and 1515. International bidders on the phones and in the saleroom drove the price of the portrait up to €845,000, making this young nobleman the star of the auction.

With sumptuous still lifes from the Northern and Southern Netherlands, Lempertz continues its success story in this Old Masters auction. Last year, a work in this genre by Jan Davidsz. de Heem was auctioned and is now in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The most recent auction on 21st May also offered another chance to bid for a de Heem. The still life with fruit and a lute sold for €330,000. 

Alongside this, a sumptuous still life by Abraham van Beyeren was also successfully auctioned. At €190,000, this magnificent composition, featuring exotic fruit and shellfish, achieved a result well above the estimate. The composition is comparable to paintings by van Beyeren held at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe and the Worcester Museum in Massachusetts. Four paintings from the latter museum’s collection will be auctioned at Lempertz’s Evening Sale on 6th June, including a painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Rather than courtly splendour, Pieter de Hooch focused his attention on domestic idylls. The painting ‘Woman sewing by a window with a maidservant and child’ fetched around €140,000 and is heading to a private European collection.

The auction achieved a total turnover of around €5 million.

Jan Bykowski
Press and PR
bykowski@lempertz.com
Tel. 0049 (0)221 925729 -57