Titian 'Sacra Conversazione' sells for $16.9 million

January 28th 2011, source: Sotheby's
The work, a good late Titian, was the star of Sotheby's sale of important old masters paintings and sculptures, which totalled $90,626,878, just shy of the high estimate of $91.8 million

Other works achieved interesting prices at the sale: Claude-Joseph Vernet’s 'A Grand View of the Sea Shore Enriched with Buildings, Shipping and Figures', brought $7,026,500 above a high estimate of $2 million, far surpassing the previous artist record of $3.8 million, achieved by a pair of works. The morning session set auction records for works by iconic artists Joachim Wtewael, Gerrit Dou and Pieter Breughel the Younger. Wtewael’s oil on copper work 'Adam and Eve' achieved $6,242,500, more than five times its pre-sale high estimate of $1.2 million. A perfect Mannerist demonstration of facility and grace, the remarkable work was previously unknown and has only now come to light. 'An Elderly Woman, Seated by a Window at her Spinning Wheel, Eating Porridge' by Dutch Golden Age artist Gerrit Dou also exceeded expectations in selling for $5,346,500. An early painting by the artist, Dou continued to use its basic compositional form throughout the remainder of his career. Pieter Breughel the Younger’s 'Return from the Kermesse' brought $4,562,500. The present work is one of the finest known versions of this composition, which was very popular during the artist’s lifetime. The scene depicts a merry procession of villagers returning from a kermesse, still in the throes of revelry

One of the most interesting purchases at Sotheby's was the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s purchase of Perino del Vaga’s 'The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist' for $2,098,500. The work set a new auction record for the artist, just one day after Sotheby’s Old Master Drawings sale broke the record for del Vaga with 'Jupiter and Juno', also sold to the Metropolitan Museum