Old Master Drawings

Noël Annesley joined Christie’s in 1964. Fifty-four years later he is still working there, and in September 2016 he organised the sale at King Street of the collection of Brian Sewell, his first boss, who had left Christie’s in 1967 and gone on to become a celebrated journalist. Together they set up the department of Prints and Drawings. Over the years Noël has made some exciting discoveries. One of them, a magnificent drawing by the early 16th Century Venetian artist Sebastiano del Piombo, now belonging to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, was included in the exhibition ‘Michelangelo and Sebastiano’ at the National Gallery, London, earlier this year. It was in the Michelangelo drawings exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, November 2017-February 2018. Noël took his first auction in 1967, and over the years achieved record prices for Titian, Canaletto, Michelangelo and Raphael. He organised and conducted the celebrated sales of Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth in 1984 and 1987, and Old Master Prints in 1986. In 2007 he sold Turner’s famous watercolour ‘The Blue Rigi’ for £5.8 million. It is now in the Tate Gallery. He served as Deputy Chairman of Christie’s International plc from 1992-2000, and was a long serving Trustee of the Dulwich Picture Gallery, and a Governor of the Yehudi Menuhin School.

With almost two decades experience as a Print Specialist at Christie’s, Murray is a seasoned expert with an expansive knowledge of his field and of the print market. Murray qualified with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rhodes University, South Africa, where he trained as a printmaker, before joining Christie’s in 2000 as Head of Prints at Christie’s South Kensington. Murray moved to King Street in 2008, where he co-ordinated several record-breaking sales, including Contemporary Editions: Works from the Paragon Press (2008), Hockney on Paper (2012) and James Ensor Prints: The Mira Jacob Collection (2014). Of the many wonderful prints which have passed through his hands, some of Murray’s highlights include Albrecht Dürer’s Samson Rending the Lion (sold for £434,500 in 2015), Rembrandt’s The Three Trees (sold for £434,500 in 2013), Edward Wadsworth’s Turret ship in dry dock (sold for £114,000 in 2006), Picasso’s Buste de femme d’après Cranach de Jeune £410,500 in 2014) and David Hockney’s Fish and Chip Shop (sold for £18,750 in 2017). Before becoming Head of Department in London in 2016, Murray was the director of Multiplied, a fair hosted by Christie’s devoted to contemporary editions (2010 -2015). Murray travels widely in Europe with a special focus on France, Holland, Spain and Switzerland.