(ANSA) – ROME, OCTOBER 29 – An early masterpiece by El Greco (pseudonym of Domínikos Theotokópoulos, Candia, 1541 – Toledo, 1614), recently returned with two other paintings to the heirs of Julius and Camilla Priester, will be auctioned at Christie’s in London on 7 December. This was announced by the auction house, stating that the Portrait of a gentleman, made in 1570, was estimated at between 800,000 and 1,200,000 pounds. It is one of the first portraits to come down to us by the artist and one of the last still in private hands. A work, the auction house experts underline, is charged “with that uncompromising intensity that would have defined the master’s revolutionary idiom, ensuring his reputation as one of the great visionaries of modern art” El Greco’s painting will come put up for sale together with an extremely rare trompe l’oeil church interior by Emmanuel de Witte (estimate £ 500,000-800,000) and a powerful portrait of the Master of Frankfurt (estimate £ 40,000-60,000). These are works that highlight the quality and significance of the collection assembled by Julius (1870-1954) and Camilla Priester (1885-1962), passionate Viennese art collectors whose possessions were seized by the Nazis between 1938 and 1944. After the war, Julius Priester – an industrialist involved in Petroleumgesellschaft Galizin and who had commercial interests in the energy sector – made great efforts to track down and recover his missing collection. A search was continued after his death first by the widow and then by the couple’s heirs. However, only recently has some works been returned.
El Greco’s masterpiece, which was presented at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2019, will be exhibited for the first time before the sale at Christie’s in New York from today until November 11, then in Hong Kong from November 25 to 29; de Witte will be exhibited at Christie’s in Amsterdam from 1 to 3 November. The three works will be brought together for the London pre-sale exhibition to be held from 3 to 7 December. (HANDLE).
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