This December’s Masters Week Evening sale spans the early-fifteenth to the early-twentieth centuries and features a wide array of remarkable works from nearly every genre.

Auction Highlights

Under the Surface of Rembrandt's Rediscovered Religious Scene

Featured in our December Masters week are a fine group of exceptionally fresh paintings from the collection at Fonmon Castle in Glamorganshire, South Wales. Acquired in 1654 by Colonel Philip Jones, Fonmon Castle remained in the Jones family until the early 20th century when it passed by marriage to the Boothby baronets. This collection predominantly consists of portraits commissioned by the sitters themselves and also fine examples of paintings acquired in Italy on the Grand Tour. These include Giovanni Paolo Panini’s early architectural capriccio (lot 16), acquired in 1731 in Rome directly from the artist by Robert Jones of Fonmon, whose son sat to Reynolds for a flamboyant masquerade portrait in hussars’ dress (lot 20). Only later, with the arrival of the Boothby family, did the powerful portrait by William Dobson enter the collection (lot 9). Painted in Oxford, at the height of the English Civil War, that portrait is one of precious few examples of this most enigmatic master’s work remaining in private hands.

Paintings from the Collection at Fonmon Castle, South Wales

Christ Presented to the People, or Ecce Homo, represents the culminating masterpiece of Rembrandt’s graphic oeuvre and one of the most prodigious artistic feats of his career. Along with Christ Crucified between two Thieves executed two years earlier, Ecce Homo is one of only two major religious works that Rembrandt executed entirely in drypoint, a laborious technique which involves scoring directly on the copper plate with a needle, without the use of acid.

Christ Presented to the People, or Ecce Homo

London

<a class="Link" href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/docs/pdf/l23036-rembrandt-the-adoration-of-the-kings.pdf">Download PDF of the Dedicated Rembrandt Catalogue</a>
 
 Printed Catalogue Available for Purchase: Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn THE ADORATION OF THE KINGS Worldwide shipping available. Available for a limited time only, order your catalogue on 
 
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 by 15 November to guarantee your copy today before the auction at Sotheby’s in London on 6 December. The catalogue will not be available for sale online or at Sotheby’s after this date. In celebration of a newly rediscovered painting, The Adoration of the Kings, by the great Dutch master, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), this limited edition catalogue showcases the history of the painting through an art historical lens. Almost entirely unseen by scholars, let alone a wider public, since the 1950s when it first came to light, the complex monochromatic panel painting depicting The Adoration of the Kings was overlooked for many decades. Now, following an 18-month research programme conducted by Sotheby’s, it has been widely recognised as a work of great significance in Rembrandt’s early career. Order your copy today at 
 
 <a class="Link" href="https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Vi0eCOYkDZTJMmrlSvXzUv?domain=hatchards.co.uk">Hatchards.com</a>
 
 , the exclusive online retailer for this publication. Limited stock available. 
 
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Chairman, Sotheby’s UK and Ireland, Co-Chairman, Old Master Paintings, Worldwide

Alexander Bell

Deputy Chairman, Sotheby's Europe &amp; Co-Chairman Old Masters Worldwide

George Gordon

Senior Specialist, British Paintings

Julian Gascoigne

Head of Department, Old Master Paintings

Elisabeth Lobkowicz

Senior Director, Senior Specialist

Tessa  Kostrzewa

Senior International Specialist, 19th Century European Paintings

Claude Piening 

Head of Sale

Charlotte North

Meet our Specialists

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This December’s Old Masters &amp; 19th Century Paintings Evening Auction is led by Rembrandt’s Adoration of the Kings, a significant and exceptionally rare painting from his early career. Other highlights include a resplendent and rediscovered floral still life by Clara Peeters, a remarkably well-preserved set of early German panels by the Master of the Hildesheim Magdalene Legend, an elegant cassone panel by Liberale da Verona, a magnificent still life by Louise Moillon, an exquisite portrait by William Dobson, a wonderful Shakespearean subject by William Hogarth, and two particularly notable portraits, one by Francesco Renaldi and another by John Singer Sargent. We are also delighted to offer a fine drypoint by Rembrandt, a true masterpiece of the artist’s graphic œuvre.

Old Master & 19th Century Paintings Evening Auction