19TH CENTURY EUROPEAN ART

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Christie’s holds more sales featuring 19th Century European Art than any other auction house in the world, with sales in London, New York, Amsterdam, Paris, Milan and Zürich (for Swiss art). In London, we are the only one of the two big auction houses to dedicate sales fully to the category, with five sales per year held between sale rooms at King Street and South Kensington, and the only international auction house to hold sales in Amsterdam and in Milan. A wide spread of sales and price points reflects the enduring popularity of this varied category, both at a national and international level.

Christie’s holds the world record price at auction for any continental European painting in this category, achieved with the sale for €9,025,000 of Théodore Géricault’s Portrait of Elisabeth and Alfred de Dreux at the landmark auction of the Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé Collection in Paris in February 2009.

Since then, further high prices have reflected the perennial appeal of this sector. These include $2,770,500 for William Bouguereau’s Pietà in June 2010 in New York (the second highest price for the artist after the $3,526,000 record established by Christie’s in 2000). A curated offering in our sale of 19th century paintings in New York in January 2011 raised over $12,500,000, with an average lot value of $170,000, and a sell-through rate of 95% by value and 72% by lot. The top lot was Jean-François Millet’s iconic La fin de la journée which sold for $1,538,500. The London sale in November 2011 saw particularly strong bidding for top works by world renowned artists such as Gustave Courbet, Camille Corot and Giovanni Boldini and an exceptional price of £583,250 for Mariano Fortuny’s Arab Fantasia.

In addition to showcasing works by the canons of European art history, Christie’s sales in the category are notable for their ability to achieve new price levels for artists traditionally prized at a national level, by bringing them to the attention of an international audience. Examples of this include the two world records achieved in November 2011 for Filippo Palizzi’s dramatic rendition of The Exit of the Animals from the Ark, and for Franz von Stuck’s Liebefrühling, which sold for £265,250 and £361,250 respectively.

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