Christie's strength as the definitive market leader in British Art on Paper has given this category an international stage and produced exceptional auction results. The department holds numerous records including the world record for any British Work on Paper sold at auction with J.M.W. Turner's, The Blue Rigi: Lake of Lucerne, Sunrise, which sold for £5,832,000. Christie’s also holds world auction records for British 18th century drawings, British 18th century watercolours and British 19th century works on paper, as well as for most major British artists who painted in this medium including Gainsborough, Burne-Jones, Sandby, Palmer, Lear, Roberts, Ruskin, Landseer, Rossetti and Augustus John.

British Art on Paper is now sold internationally in both London and New York – early drawings are sold in the Old Masters and 19th Century Art sales, later 19th century works in the Victorian and British Impressionist Pictures sales, and 20th Century works in the 20th Century British Art sales. Regular sales of Drawings and Watercolours are sold within the Interiors sales at South Kensington, in addition to the bi-annual dedicated illustration sales.

2009 has already seen many excellent results including January's Important Old Master Paintings Sale in New York where J.M.W. Turner’s The Brünig Pass sold for $1,082,500; July's Old Master and 19th Century Art Evening Sale in London where Off Yarmouth, also by Turner, sold for £301,250 and a Shoreham period pen and ink drawing by Samuel Palmer achieved £121,250, doubling its pre-sale estimate. A highlight of May's 20th Century British Art Sale was a charming collection of six watercolours by Gwen John, which sold for £62,375 alongside a pencil portrait of Dorelia by Augustus that realised £30,000. June's Victorian and British Impressionist Picture Sale featured a watercolour by Lear which realised £45,650, A Portrait of Annie Miller by Rossetti which sold for £205,250 and three magnificent works by Birket Foster, one of which tripled the pre-sale estimate, realising £109,250. The July South Kensington sale of Old Master, 19th Century and British Drawings and Watercolours saw excellent results including a view of Rouen by John Sell Cotman, which achieved £7,500.

See also:
SPECIAL FEATURE: Introduction to the Wood Prince Turners

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