Old Master Prints

Stefano joined Christie’s Prints department in 2017, following a position at the British Museum in the Prints and Drawings Study Room. A native Italian speaker and fluent in English, Stefano travels regularly to Italy and other regions to source works for the London auctions. His interests and knowledge span over six centuries of printmaking, with a special fondness for Renaissance and Mannerist prints.

Together with the international specialist Tim Schmelcher, Stefano curates the Old Master Prints auctions, annual or biannual specialty sales, landmarks for private collectors, connoisseurs, dealers and scholars of this lively field. His involvement as a business getter and cataloguer extends to Modern, Post-War and Contemporary editions.

He holds a Master’s Degree in ‘Economy and Management of Arts and Cultural Activities’ from Università Ca’ Foscari in Venice, gained with full marks and laude.

Tim Schmelcher joined Christie's Prints Department in London in 2004 and specializes in Old Master and German Expressionist prints. In his role as International Specialist, Tim oversees Christie’s auctions of Old Master Prints in London, New York and online, which have included the landmark sales Albrecht Dürer – Masterpieces from a Private Collection (New York, January 2013) and Goya – Graphic Masterpieces from a Private Collection (New York, January 2014) and Fifty Prints by Rembrandt van Rijn – A Private English Collection (London, July 2016). With these and many successful various-owner sales since 2007, Tim has helped Christie’s achieve countless record prices for Dürer, Rembrandt, Goya and many other printmakers of the 15th to the 19th century, including the highest price for an old master print at auction: Rembrandt’s Christ presented to the People (‘Ecce Homo’) was sold for GBP 2,65 million in London in 2018.

Other successes include the sale of Edvard Munch’s Young Woman on the Beach for £2,130,000 (London, in March 2013) and some very significant private sales of Modern and Old Master Prints. In April 2018, Tim curated the exhibition Beauties & Beasts – Making and Collecting Art in Germany for Christie’s in Berlin.

Tim speaks German, English and French and holds an M.A. in Art History and American Studies. Based in London, he maintains regular contact with clients and institutions in Europe and in North America.