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The Unmissable Highlights from London’s Old Masters Week
Discover specialist-curated masterpieces from the 15th to 19th centuries across five exceptional auctions this London Old Masters Week.
T his December, Old Masters Week returns to Sotheby’s London, presented in partnership with Qatar Executive. Across five auctions, collectors can explore an exceptional array of works from the late 15th to 19th centuries, including a rare triptych, captivating Northern panels, and masterful portraits – offering a unique opportunity to experience centuries of artistic brilliance.
Read on for the auction highlights handpicked by our specialists.
On 2 December, Sotheby’s London offers the erudite and cosmopolitan collection of Sven A. Behrendt, whose varied interests encompassed Old Master Paintings, 17th- and 18th-century books and Chinese sculpture.
Hans Bol, Panoramic landscape with a tower and a river in the foreground and a view of Antwerp and the River Schelde in the distance
The sale is led by an extraordinary Panoramic landscape by Hans Bol (1534-1593), executed in distemper on fine linen (waterwerf). Works in this medium are now vanishingly rare, on account of their fragility; the Behrendt example is one of the two best preserved and is in almost pristine condition.
John William Godward, Lassitude
It might be said that the title Lassitude could be applied to the majority of John William Godward’s (1861–1922) most evocative paintings – so over-arching was his desire to capture the idea of ‘Dolce far Niente’ (the sweet pleasure of inactivity). His paintings evoke a bygone age of Classicism but are not concerned with mythology or grand historical acts. Painted by a quiet, unassuming man who did not seek fame or controversy, these pictures delight the eye and the heart and ask nothing of the viewer but to enter a world where flowers bloom, women repose and sunlight glimmers on the surface of the sea.
Hendrik Frans van Lint, called Lo Studio, An extensive river landscape with Venus, Apollo, Cupid, Silenus and other classical figures; An extensive river landscape with figures paying homage to Pan
Hendrik Frans van Lint (1684–1763) was one of the most accomplished and sought-after landscape painters working in Rome in the first half of the 18th century. A native of Antwerp, he moved to the Eternal City circa 1710, where he soon earned himself the nickname ‘Lo Studio’, due to the painstaking precision with which he rendered both figures and architecture, and he is often seen to sign with this name, as here. These beautifully preserved paintings rank amongst Van Lint's most accomplished ‘Claudian’ landscapes, evoking an arcadian world populated by delicately rendered figures set in an idealised classical landscape. Both works, one of which is dated 1742, were executed by Van Lint in Rome and bear the Italian form of his signature, ‘Enrico’.
On 3 December, our Old Master & 19th Century Paintings Evening Auction presents a remarkable selection of artworks spanning from the 15th to the late 19th centuries.
Hans Eworth, Portrait of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (1538–1578)
This exceptional and highly significant painting is one of the most important Tudor portraits remaining in private hands. Signed in monogram by Hans Eworth (1515-1574), the most important artist working in England after Hans Holbein, and dated 1562, it depicts the preeminent nobleman of the Elizabethan court, Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshall of England. The only Duke in the realm, and second cousin to the Queen, Norfolk was the son of the ‘Poet Earl’, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and his wife, Lady Frances de Vere; and grandson of the immensely powerful but attainted Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Painted in 1562, when Norfolk was at the height of his political power at court, the painting was originally conceived as a pendant to Eworth’s portrait of his second wife, Margaret Audley, Duchess of Norfolk, which has a corresponding background (Audley End, National Trust).
Pieter Brueghel the Younger, The Census at Bethlehem
Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s monumental Census of Bethlehem – painted in 1566 and housed in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium – served as the model for this remarkably well-preserved panel of nearly identical scale by his eldest son, Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1637). Echoing his father’s composition, Pieter the Younger evokes the wintry atmosphere of a Brabant village with the same timeless sensibility and abundance of characteristically Bruegelian detail that continues to captivate modern audiences. The Census of Bethlehem is among the rarest subjects in Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s œuvre, and the present panel, held in the same private collection for nearly forty years, is unquestionably the finest example of the type to appear at auction in the modern era.
Which Famous Figures are Hidden in Brueghel's Timeless Winter Village Scene?
Sir Peter Paul Rubens, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne adored by Saints of the House of Habsburg
This colourful oil sketch of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne adored by Saints of the House of Habsburg is a significant addition to the corpus of Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). It has recently been reidentified as the prime version of a composition, a copy of which is today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The painting demonstrates Rubens’ practice of adapting earlier inventions, and several figures here echo those found in some of his major commissions. The kneeling figures in the foreground are, from left to right, King Stephen of Hungary (977-1038), Margrave Leopold II the Pious (1073-1136), and St Casimir of Poland and Lithuania (1458-1484), while the standing emperor is presumably Charlemagne. The remaining saints include: John the Evangelist, Augustine, Catherine and Barbara (on the right); and John the Baptist, Carlo Borromeo (or Ignatius), Pope Gregory, and Saint Christopher (on the left).
Frans Hals, Portrait of Verdonck brandishing a jawbone
Following a recent cleaning removing many decades of dirt and a heavily discoloured varnish, this work, painted with speed and unhesitating virtuosity, represents a significant addition to Frans Hals’ (1582–1666) œuvre. It is a work that casts fresh light both on his rapid stylistic development in the early 1620s, and on the borderline that he straddled between genre painting and portraiture. On the basis both of style and of the age of the subject, this recently discovered work, hitherto known to scholars only from an old black-and-white photograph, must have been painted in about 1623–25, a few years before the celebrated portrait of Verdonck, a notorious Haarlem troublemaker, in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh. The distinctive brushwork and technique aligns this painting with other works by Hals from this decade, including the dry-brush technique used to draw strands of hair directly into wet paint, the staccato strokes of dark red lake paint in the cheek and around his eyes, as well as intersecting diagonals in his cheeks – all hallmarks of Hals’ early style.
Portrait of a Rebel: Frans Hals’ Iconic Dutch Golden Age Painting
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Saint John on Patmos, half-length, his folded hands resting on the cover of a book, a palm tree behind him and his emblem of an eagle to the right, his head based on the features of Titus van Rijn
Unseen by scholars for almost a century, not exhibited since 1923 and known only from a poor black-and-white photograph, this painting of Saint John on Patmos resurfaced in late 2024. The figure recalls Rembrandt’s (1606-1669) son Titus, suggesting the saint may be a portrait historié. Technical examination show bold sweeping in the saint’s cloak, as well as strong lighting on his right cheek, temple and side of the nose, in keeping with the handling seen in Rembrandt’s late works from around 1660. Its provenance is also notable, having been first recorded in a 1760 Hague sale, then in the famed Winckler collection in Leipzig, before re-appearing in New York in 1913 and ultimately entering the Zichy-Thyssen family collection.
In this live auction on 4 December, Sotheby’s London is delighted to present a rich and wide variety of works hailing from over five centuries from all of the major national schools of art.
Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder, Portrait of a gentleman, half-length, wearing a black coat with fur collar, holding a letter; Portrait of his wife, half-length, wearing a black dress and cape with gold belt, holding a red and gold bead rosary
Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder (1493-1555) founded an important school of portraiture in Cologne, where there was previously no such tradition. Trained in the workshop of Jan Joest van Kalkar (1450-1519), which he entered in 1505, he was profoundly influenced by the art of the Low Countries and in particular by the artists Gerard David (1460-1523) and Geertgen tot Sint Jans (active c. 1455/65-1485/95), and established himself as the foremost painter of the city’s patriciate. Bruyn himself was actively involved in civic life in Cologne (he was elected to the city's auxiliary council in 1518 and 1521), and the city's mayors, lawyers, scholars and public officials made up his clientele. These likenesses, dated 1533, are typical of Bruyn's more stylised portraits, set against a bright, plain background, with attention to detail in the figures' clothing and accessories.
Gérard de Lairesse, An allegory of Autumn
Seemingly unrecorded in the literature, this grand, monogrammed painting by Gérard de Lairesse (1641–1711) constitutes an important addition to the artist's œuvre. In its composition, facial types and the rendering of flesh, this work compares closely with Lairesse's Allegorical portrait of Duchess Marie of Cleves, dated 1671, in the Musée de Picardie, Amiens; the Allegory of the five senses, dated 1668, at the Glasgow Art Gallery; and the Nymphs and Bacchantes paying homage at the temple of Flora, datable around 1666–70, which appeared for sale last year.
Gaetano Gandolfi, God the Father
Preserved in excellent, unlined condition, this recently rediscovered bozzetto displays all the hallmarks of Gaetano Gandolfi’s mature style: dynamic, fluid brushstrokes, beautifully worked impasto, and bright colouring. It is a study for the fresco of the same subject on the ceiling of the refectory in the convent of San Salvatore, Bologna. The fresco was unveiled in April 1776 as part of the refectory’s redecoration programme, which also included Gandolfi’s monumental masterpiece The Marriage at Cana (signed and dated 1775; Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna).
Following on the heels of the Day Auction, we are proud to unveil our new live auction presenting an exceptional selection of 19th- and 20th-century European and British paintings and sculpture.
Gustave Moreau, Sappho falling into the Abyss
Gustave Moreau’s (1826–1898) Sappho Falling into the Abyss painted in 1867 is beautiful example by the artist. It exemplifies Moreau's unique style and captures the moment that Sappho jumps from the Leucadian cliffs due to her unrequited love for the ferryman, Phaon, a theme Moreau would revisit on a number of occasions.
John Frederick Herring Sr. | Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, R.A. | John Phillip, R.A., The Village Blacksmith (Shoeing of Imaum)
The Village Blacksmith (Shoeing of Imaum) is painted by three different artists including the leading animal painters of the Victorian period. Herring painted the horse, Imaum (once owned by Queen Victoria), and Landseer painted the blacksmith and the dog, while Phillips painted the woman on the far right. It was highly regarded by viewers and critics when it was first exhibited in 1858-59.
Charles Adrien Prosper d'Epinay, Paul et Virginie
This superb autograph marble by the Mauritian-born Anglo-French sculptor Prosper d’Épinay is a rare, reduced size version of one of the sculptor’s iconic works: Paul et Virginie. The sculpture is based on a scene from Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre’s iconic 1788 novel of the same name.
Sotheby’s London’s annual Old Master Prints sale returns, with online bidding open from 28 November – 5 December. This highly anticipated auction presents a rich overview of early Western printmaking, spanning the 15th to the 19th centuries.
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, The Hundred Guilder Print
Rembrandt’s Hundred Guilder Print is among the artist's most celebrated and ambitious graphic works, uniting multiple episodes from the Gospel of Matthew into a single, masterfully composed scene. The complex print showcases his unmatched ability to blend narrative with profound emotional insight. This early impression, printed on Japanese paper, is especially atmospheric in quality. The fine, absorbent surface gently modulates the shifts between light and shadow, amplifying the radiant figure of Christ at the center and bringing out the most delicate nuances of Rembrandt’s drypoint and etched strokes. Impressions on Japan paper are especially valued for their warmth, richness, and scarcity.
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, Los Caprichos
Francisco Goya’s Los Caprichos is one of the most influential print series of the Enlightenment, a daring blend of imagination, social critique, and technical brilliance. This early first edition set, printed before the scratch on Plate 45, preserves the clarity, tonal richness, and incisive detail that Goya intended.
Was Francisco Goya a Sorcerer? The Dark Secrets of Los Caprichos
Albrecht Dürer, Saint Eustace
The legend of St Eustace, the patron saint of huntsmen, was described in Jacobus de Varagine’s thirteenth-century collection of saints’ lives, the Golden Legend; it became an immensely popular subject in late medieval art. There were important precursors to Albrecht Dürer’s (1471-1528) interpretation: perhaps most notably, Pisanello’s The Vision of Saint Eustace (circa 1438-42), now in the collection of the National Gallery, London, which the German artist may well have encountered in Verona around five years before this work was engraved.
Dürer’s rendition was to become the iconic depiction of the legend, however, not so much because of the contemporary reverence for its subject, but for its exquisite depiction of the natural world. As Panofsky describes:
But the attention of the beholder is held less by the experience of St. Eustace than by the landscape and the animals. Dürer has never approached more closely what may be called an Eyckian quality of scenery. An untold wealth of details, including even a flight of birds circling around the belfry of a fortified castle, and in part visible only through a magnifying glass, is organized into a monumental whole. The utmost solidity of substance and precision of form are mysteriously combined with the greatest softness and richness of tone; the eye feasts on such subtleties as the nuances of different types of foliage and the interior-like half-light of a secluded swannery darkened by trees. The animals, too, are studied from life with an eye to tone and texture.
