Sources:  Christies.com/KatyM, Community News

Christie's: Results of Old Masters Auction including important Equestrian Artwork

Christie's auction, "Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale," took place on July 5th.

Included in the catalogue were several important equestrian paintings. Three works by George Stubbs, a very influential and ground-breaking equestrian artist, and two paintings by John Wootton portraying significant sires in the development of the Thoroughbred breed were consigned to the auction.

Stubbs' "Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a trainer, a jockey and a stable lad" sold right in the pre-auction estimate range (£20,000,000 to 30,000,000) at £22,441,250 (US$35,906,000). A second Stubbs painting, "A dark bay hunter beside a tree in an extensive landscape," came in a little lower than estimates at £97,250 (US$155,600). The third Stubbs work, 'a black and white spaniel' was among the twenty-one lots that did not sell.

Hootton's famous work, "The Godolphin Arabian" also did not sell, but the portrait of "Lord Harley's Bloody Shouldered Arabian" made the pre-auction estimate fetching £193,250 (US $309,200).

The Michelangelo male nude studies sold for £3,177,250 (UA$5,083,600) while the
Hans Holbein II (circle of) portrait of Henry VIII sold for £657,250 (US$1,051,600), exceeding the pre-auction estimate of £300,000 - £500,000.

Results of the entire auction can be found at www.christies.com.