Old Master Paintings
Christie’s is a market leader in Old Master Paintings, and has repeatedly set records in auctions and private sales.
In 2017, Christie’s made history, selling Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi for $450 million — more than double the previous record for any work of art sold at auction. This achievement followed our private sale to the French and Dutch states in 2016 of a pair of full-length portraits by Rembrandt for €160 million — currently, the highest price paid privately for any Old Master piece. In July 2016, Christie’s was delighted to sell Rubens’ Lot and his Daughters for £44.9 million — the third highest price ever achieved for an Old Master painting at auction.
Christie’s conducts Old Master auctions in London in July and December; New York in January and May and Paris in June. Attracting a range of international clients throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, these sales are dedicated to over half a millennium of art: from the Italian gold ground artists of the 14th and early 15th centuries such as Taddeo Gaddi and Lorenzo Monaco, to the early Netherland, Renaissance and Mannerist painters such as Hans Memling, Joos van Cleve, Gerard David, Lucas Cranach, Titian, Sandro Botticelli and El Greco.
Our international team of experts is based across the Americas, Europe and Asia and is always available for free and confidential valuations. Please contact our specialists if you would like to discuss selling or buying in this vibrant market.
In 2017, Christie’s made history, selling Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi for $450 million — more than double the previous record for any work of art sold at auction. This achievement followed our private sale to the French and Dutch states in 2016 of a pair of full-length portraits by Rembrandt for €160 million — currently, the highest price paid privately for any Old Master piece. In July 2016, Christie’s was delighted to sell Rubens’ Lot and his Daughters for £44.9 million — the third highest price ever achieved for an Old Master painting at auction.
Christie’s conducts Old Master auctions in London in July and December; New York in January and May and Paris in June. Attracting a range of international clients throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, these sales are dedicated to over half a millennium of art: from the Italian gold ground artists of the 14th and early 15th centuries such as Taddeo Gaddi and Lorenzo Monaco, to the early Netherland, Renaissance and Mannerist painters such as Hans Memling, Joos van Cleve, Gerard David, Lucas Cranach, Titian, Sandro Botticelli and El Greco.
Our international team of experts is based across the Americas, Europe and Asia and is always available for free and confidential valuations. Please contact our specialists if you would like to discuss selling or buying in this vibrant market.
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Andrew joined Christie’s in 2022 assuming overall responsibility for the international Old Masters department. Previously Andrew spent nearly 20 years at Sotheby’s, most recently as head of the Old Masters department, Europe, during which time he oversaw many of the department’s most successful auction sales. Andrew was the co-architect of the £150m pioneering sale ‘Rembrandt to Richter’ in 2020 during the pandemic, the first major evening sale to combine Old Masters with Impressionist, Contemporary and Modern British Art. He has been particularly focused on growing private sales in the field and has been instrumental in the development of the market for Old Masters in Asia. Andrew’s particular passion lies in the early Netherlandish and Italian schools.
John Stainton is Deputy Chairman of Christie’s Old Master Paintings department. John joined the company in 1990 after completing a two-year diploma at Christie's Education, and was appointed Head of Department, British Pictures 1500-1850, in 1994. In 2007 John became an International Director of the merged Old Master & British Paintings department.
Major works which John has worked closely on in recent years include J.M.W. Turner’s Giudecca, La Donna della Salute and San Giorgio, Venice (2006; US$35.8M), George Stubbs’ Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath (2011; £22.4M), and John Constable’s The Lock (2012; £22.4M), each representing world record prices. John also handles major private and institutional sales.
While British Painting – a field whose market Christie’s consistently dominates – remains a passion, John works across all schools of European Old Masters. In 2014 John curated the highly successful ‘Art of the Horse’ private selling exhibition which toured to Shanghai and Hong Kong, comprising Asian and Western works of art, from Antiquity to the present day. John leads the Old Master department’s work in Asia.
Letizia began her career in Old Master Paintings at Sotheby’s in 1996, becoming worldwide specialist in Italian paintings. In 2013 she assumed the position of Curator of later Italian, Spanish and French 17th-century paintings at The National Gallery, London. Whilst there, she championed several acquisitions in her area and curated numerous exhibitions, including Beyond Caravaggio (2016) and Artemisia (2020). Letizia left the museum in 2022 and, after a period as Senior Partner at Moretti Fine Art in London, has taken on the role of Global Head of Research & Expertise in Old Masters.
Francis Russell has been a specialist at Christie’s since 1972, and is a former Head of the International Old Master Picture Department. A well-known authority in the field of Italian Old Masters – and in particular the art of the Umbrian Renaissance, Italian portraiture and view-paintings of the 18th Century – as well as the history of British collecting. He advised on the selection of paintings and assisted on the catalogue for the Treasure Houses of Britain exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and has published discoveries by artists as varied as Fra Angelico, Pontormo and Wright of Derby. Mr. Russell served on the Art Panel of the National Trust. He has written about Italian and English paintings and aspects of the history of collections for scholarly publications such as Country Life and The Burlington Magazine. His books include John, 3rd Earl of Bute: Patron and Collector, 2004, Places in Italy, 2007, Places in Turkey, 2010, Places in Syria, 2011 and Places in Jordan, 2012.
Clementine Sinclair
Senior Director, Head of Department
London
As Senior Director, Head of Department in London, Clementine is involved in overseeing the sourcing, cataloguing and research, and marketing of the sales. She started on the graduate training scheme at Christie’s in 2005, having completed a BA in History of Art at Cambridge and a Masters at the Courtauld Institute. Initially part of the Early British Pictures team, she joined the Old Masters department in 2007.
Clementine headed up the Day sale before taking on the responsibilities of running the Evening sales in London. In this role, she has had the privilege of managing the research and marketing of Constable’s Lock, which sold for £22.4m in 2012, and Rubens’ Lot and His Daughter, which realised a remarkable £44.8m in 2016, setting a new record price for an Old Master painting sold at Christie’s. She was also involved in the highly successful Defining British Art cross-category sale, which was held to mark Christie’s 250th anniversary in 2016.
John Hawley
Director, Head of Private Sales, EMEA
London, Hong Kong
Prior to joining the Old Master Paintings team in New York in May 2017, John held a curatorial position at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, collaborating on a number of exhibitions, including the ground-breaking Class Distinctions: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer (Fall 2015). He obtained degrees from the College of William and Mary (B.A., 2008), Institute of Fine Arts at New York University (M.A., 2010), and University of Virginia (Ph.D., 2015). A specialist in Dutch and Flemish art of the 17th century, John previously held positions at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia. He is the authority on the drawings of Cornelis Visscher (1628/29-1658) and has published extensively in Master Drawings, Print Quarterly, caa.reviews, and various exhibition catalogues.
Olivia has worked at Christie’s since 2017, joining the Old Master Paintings Department in 2018 first as cataloguer and subsequently as specialist. She is now responsible for heading up the department’s biannual live sales in Paris. In addition to this, she is an auctioneer and charity auctioneer. Prior to joining Christie's, she was a Fellow in the Prints and Drawings Department at the British Museum. She speaks English, French and German, and has a specific interest in art of the British, French and Italian Schools.
Lucy is a Junior Specialist in the Old Master Paintings department in London, where she heads up their biannual Part II sales. She came to Christie’s in 2017 as an Object Intelligence Researcher in Old Masters where she supported senior specialists with client strategy and art market research before joining the specialist team in 2022. Prior to joining Christie’s, Lucy completed her Master’s degree at the Courtauld Institute of Art specialising in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century painting in Italy and northern Europe, and read for her Bachelor’s in History of Art at the University of Bristol.
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