World Record Set at Amsterdam Auction
Published May 15th, 2008
‘The Four Seasons’, by the Flemish master Sebastaen Vrancx (1578-1647) sold for €1.2 million – a world auction record for the artist and the second highest price ever fetched by an Old Master Painting in the Netherlands (NB: the Dutch auction record was set in May 2007 at Sotheby’s Amsterdam when the ‘Card Players’ by Jan Lievens sold for €1.8 million).
The portrait of Maria Anna of Austria, Infanta of Spain, later Queen of Hungary, attributed to Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and Studio realised €384.250 and a rare view in Amsterdam from circa 1685 by Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde (1638-1698), with the Great Synagogue and the Portuguese Synagogue, exceeded expectations at €300.250. An exquisitely rendered Still-life with a tulip, anemones, lily of the valley, a caterpillar and a butterfly by Jacob Marrel (1613/4-1681) did strikingly well and fetched €174.250, almost nine times the estimate.
A remarkable portrait of the ‘Lady with the two beards’, identified as Margret Halseber of Basel, by Willem Key (1515/6-1568) generated huge interest selling for €102.250, tripling expectations. The sale of 86 lotnumbers totalled €3.2 million, equalling the high estimate.
