Russian art dealers are among those vying to get their hands on Rembrandt’s masterpiece Bust of a Man in Gorget and Cap, estimated at £12 million and offered at auction for the first time in nearly 40 years.
The painting by one of the greatest and most influential artists in history will be brought to the Russian capital in mid-April, ahead of the Christie’s sale in London on July 3.
Rembrandt’s Man is the centerpiece of the Pieter and Olga Dreesmann Collection – a selection of 15 works by 17th Century Dutch Masters of the Golden Age.
With masterpieces by artists such as Willem van de Velde II, Adriaen Coorte and Pieter Jansz Saenredam, this is the most important single-owner collection of Dutch paintings of this period to come to the market in recent years. It is expected to fetch in excess of £19 million.
A Bust of a Man in Gorget and Cap has been hailed by critics as a perfect example of “masterful treatment of light to create drama, achieved in part by Rembrandt’s use of chiaroscuro, pointing to the influence of Caravaggio, to whom he is clearly indebted in terms of style in this work.”
No wonder this work was exhibited in the Rembrandt/Caravaggio exhibition staged by The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, back in 2006.
Christie’s boasts an unrivalled track record with Rembrandt, having sold the two most valuable works by the artist to have been offered at auction: Man with Arms Akimbo, in 2009 (£20,201,250) and Portrait of Aeltje Uylenburgh from the Collection of Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild in 2000 (£19,803,750).