Masterpiece by George Stubbs sold for $36 million

George Stubbs
Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey
painted in 1765
oil on canvas, 101.6 x 193.6 cm. (40in. x 76¼in.)
sold for £22,441,250 / $35,906,000 / €24,797,581

Masterpiece by George Stubbs sold for $36 million ‘Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey’, a masterpiece by George Stubbs (1724-1806) has been sold for £22,4 million ($35,9 million) at Christie’s London auction of Old Master and British Paintings on 5 July 2011.]]>

July 6th 2011, source: Christie’s / theartwolf

This large canvas is now the 3rd most valuable Old Master painting ever sold at auction. Before the sale, Richard Knight, co-head of 19th Century Art at Christie’s, declared that Stubbs could “join a small and select group who represent the most valuable old master artists ever sold”. It was true. After the auction, Mr. Knight pointed that “Stubbs now joins Rubens, Rembrandt, Turner and Pontormo as the only Old Master artists whose paintings have sold for more than £20 million at auction.”

The previous auction record for a work by Stubbs was £10,121,250 ($15,906,556 / €12,096,885), achieved by “Brood Mares and Foal” at Sotheby’s London, on December 8th 2010. In 1999, “Whistlejacket”, which many consider Stubb’s greatest masterpiece, was purchased by the National Gallery of London for £11 million in a private deal with the Rockingham family.

At the same auction, “Portrait of Miss Read, later Mrs William Villebois” by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) was sold for £6,537,250 / $10,459,600 / €7,223,661, setting a new world record price for the artist. A drawing by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), “A male nude, seen from behind (recto); Studies of male nudes (verso)” achieved £3,177,250 / $5,083,600 / €3,510,861.

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