Old Master Through Modern Prints: April 28, 2022 Auction Highlights



Lot 373: Pablo Picasso, Le Rupas Frugal, etching and drypoint, 1904. Estimate $100,000 to $150,000. 
The spring auction of Old Master Through Modern Prints features iconic images from the late-fifteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. Top lots include Pablo Picasso’s chef d’oeuvre etching and drypoint Le Repas Frugal, 1904, and Rembrandt van Rijn’s early Self Portrait with Raised Sabre, etching, 1634, both exceedingly important prints showcasing the talents of these master printmakers at the outset of their highly influential artistic careers.
 

Old Master Prints

The rich assortment of top quality Old Master prints includes many lifetime impressions by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Giovanni B. Piranesi and Francisco José de Goya, as well as an array of fine examples by artists such as Pieter Bruegel, Hendrick Goltzius, Claude Lorrain, Antonio Canaletto, and the German “Little Masters”: Albrecht Altdorfer, Hans Sebald Beham, Heinrich Aldregrever and Georg Pencz. Highlights include Dürer’s The Nemesis, engraving, circa 1501, and Canaletto’s View of a Town on a River Bank, etching, circa 1740.

Lot 27: Albrecht Dürer, St. Anthony Reading, engraving, 1519.  Estimate $30,000 to $50,000. 
Lot 62: Pieter Bruegel, The Wedding of Mopsus and Nisa (The Dirty Bride), engraving, 1570. Estimate $5,000 to $8,000. 

Related Reading: Meisterstiche: Albrecht Dürer’s Master Engravings


Nineteenth Century Prints

Also on offer is a selection of exquisite prints by nineteenth-century artists including Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, James A. M. Whistler, Mary Cassatt, Paul Gauguin and Rodolphe Bresdin, with highlights including Renoir’s color lithograph Baigneuse, debout, en pied, 1896, and Toulouse-Lautrec’s color lithograph Le Jockey, 1899, two of the quintessential fin de siècle color prints.

Lot 284: Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Aristide Bruant dans son cabaret, color lithograph, 1893. Estimate $15,000 to $20,000. 

Related Reading: Master Printmakers: Picasso Working With the Crommelyncks


Modern American Prints

The modern American prints section abounds with masterworks by John Singer Sargent, Childe Hassam, George Bellows, Martin Lewis, Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, including a rarely-seen at auction Head of Young Woman, lithograph, 1871, by Sargent, and Wood’s ethereal Sultry Night, lithograph, 1939.

Lot 353: Thomas Hart Benton, Wreck of the Ol’97, lithograph, 1944. Estimate $8,000 to $12,000. 

Modern European Prints

Completing the auction is an extraordinary selection of Modern European prints by many of the most sought-after 20th century artists, including Georges Braque, Sonia Delaunay, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Max Beckmann, Lyonel Feininger and Marc Chagall. There is a wonderful impression of Braque’s first print, Étude de Nu, etching, 1907-08, as well as the very scarce Étude de nu renversé, etching, 1929, by Matisse.

Lot 416: Max Beckmann, Selbstbildnis 1918, drypoint, 1918. Estimate $7,000 to $10,000. 
Lot 273: Paul Cézanne, Les Baigneurs (grande planche), color lithograph, circa 1896-98.
Estimate $20,000 to $30,000.