Masters Week

T his February, Sotheby’s proudly presents Masters Week in New York, showcasing masterworks ranging from the third millennia B.C. to the nineteenth century.

The week begins with the sale of the remarkable Diane A. Nixon Collection, one of the finest drawings collections assembled in recent decades. Formed between the early 1990s and mid-2010s with exceptional discernment and a deeply personal vision, the collection comprises approximately 120 works spanning four centuries — from circa 1500 to 1900 — with particular strength in Italian drawings of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries and French drawings of the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. Its scope, however, is sweeping: superb examples from the Dutch, Flemish, German, and British schools underscore the breadth and quality of a collection built with exceptional care.

This year’s Master Paintings & Sculpture Part I sale features works of exceptional rarity and provenance. Leading the auction is Antonello da Messina’s double-sided Ecce Homo of circa 1460–1465, the artist's only known depiction of the subject remaining in private hands. Additional highlights include Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s vivid head study of a bearded man; a magnificent circa-1500 millefleur unicorn tapestry from the celebrated Cindy and Jay Pritzker Collection; and a Roman Egyptian encaustic Mummy Portrait of a Man acquired by John Franklin Goucher in 1895.

Anchoring the week is the highly anticipated Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries sale headlined by Rembrandt’s Young Lion Resting, an electrifying study of strength, vigilance, and natural majesty. A rarity in Rembrandt’s oeuvre — and the only animal depiction by the artist remaining in private hands — the drawing has resided for more than two decades in the world-renowned Leiden Collection, home to one of the most important holdings of Dutch Golden Age art in private ownership. Acquired in 2005 as Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan’s first Rembrandt, the work marks the genesis of a collection that now includes seventeen paintings by the master. Its appearance at auction represents the most significant Rembrandt drawing to come to market in a generation, with proceeds benefiting Panthera, the global leader in wild cat conservation.

Explore the top works, collections, and stories as they are announced, and join us January 30 through February 4 in our newly opened galleries at the Breuer building on Madison Avenue, to experience these exceptional works in person.