Important rediscoveries feature in Old Master auction

Important Old Master paintings and sculpture will go on sale at Sotheby’s New York on January 30 during the annual Old Masters Week auctions.

The sale includes a number of important paintings from the Dutch Golden Age, notably an exciting rediscovery of a work by Jacob Ochtervelt. A Child and Nurse in the Foyer of an Elegant Townhouse, the Parents Beyond is a previously unrecorded painting and is an important addition to the artist’s oeuvre. It is estimated to fetch $3-4 million.

A further important rediscovery leading the auction is A Merry Group behind a Balustrade with a Violin and a Lute Player by Gerrit van Honthorst, which is estimated at $2-3 million. The painting has not been seen in public since it was on the auction block in Valenciennes in 1883.

Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s interpretation of summer must be considered one of his most popular and successful subjects, and Summer: Figures at Rest during the Summer Harvest, is one of the finest and most impeccably preserved examples to emerge in decades. The panel, signed and dated 1600, is the earliest of the approximately 20 variations on the composition, which strongly suggest it is the prime version of the group. It is estimated to fetch $2.5-3.5 million.

Other significant works featured in the sale include pieces by Jan Van Goyen, Adriaen van Ostade, Willem van de Velde and Jean-Honoré Fragonard.