Raphael’s late, black chalk drawing, Head of a Young Apostle, around 1519-20, was the centre of attention during London’s Old Master week last month. The work was being sold by the Duke of Devonshire to fund the costs of running his stately home at Chatsworth in Derbyshire and to benefit its collection. The work had been at Chatsworth for more than 300 years, but sold at Sotheby’s on 5 December to an anonymous phone bidder for £29.7m (est £10m-£15m), underbid by the London dealers Stephen Ongpin and Luca Baroni. Even without the Raphael, prices at Sotheby’s were uncommonly strong. The Prayer Before the Meal, 1660, a touching masterpiece by Jan Steen devoid of his usual droll humour, had been privately offered for around £6m before its consignment to auction, where it sold for £5.6m (est £5m-£7m). Overall, the sale made £56m, with works selling 75% by lot and 87% by value. The evening before, Christie’s had a rather rocky time when only 25 of the 54 lots offered sold. There was brief success with a previously unknown and unusually stately Jacob Jordaens, The Meeting of Odysseus and Nausicaa (17th century, date unknown), which sold for a record £2m to the London dealer Johnny van Haeften (est £500,000-£800,000). Nonetheless, the sale made only £11.5m, selling just 54% by lot and 70% by value.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Raphael stars in mixed London sales'
