An Oscar-winning actor, a playwright, a raconteur, a wit, a diplomat, and a humanitarian: Sir Peter Ustinov (1921-2004) was all these things and so much more. Over the course of a long and distinguished life lived to the full, he had many faces, both public and private. Passing away at the age of eighty-two almost twenty years ago, he bestowed to the world many accomplishments, captured both on film and the written page.
This summer, Sotheby’s will offer the private collection of Sir Peter Ustinov across two auctions in Paris, led by a live sale on 6 July, with two sessions that will stand as distinct tributes to the Benois legacy and to Sir Peter. A further online auction will run alongside, open for bidding from 30 June to 7 July. Featuring property from his homes in France and Switzerland, the sales include artworks by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Félix Vallotton, Natalia Goncharova, Alexandre and Nadia Benois, Zinaida Serebriakova (his mother’s cousin), and a selection of Old Master drawings, in addition to film memorabilia and annotated scripts.
