A rare lifetime depiction of George Washington from 1795 that was made by his most renowned portraitist, Gilbert Stuart, will lead a Christie’s auction next month.
The work, George Washington (Vaughn type)—which is being sold from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to benefit its acquisition fund—is estimated to fetch between US$1.5 million and US$2.5 million. It will be part of Christie’s liveImportant Americana sale, which will include a wide range of American fine art, furniture, folk art, ceramics, and silver at the auctioneer’s Rockefeller Center location on Jan. 18 and 19.
“What makes this year’s sale extraordinary is a range and number of masterpieces that the market hasn’t seen in a long time,” says Cara Zimmerman, head of Americana at Christie’s. “We have objects the top collectors will be vying for in most of our categories.”
Named after one of the early owners, there are only 14 Vaughan-type portraits known to exist today, four of which are held privately. The Met’s example is “one of the most significant of the artist’s renditions based on Washington’s first sitting with Stuart in 1795,” according to Christie’s. This particular piece was owned by the Philips family, English textile merchants who had supported the American cause during the Revolution.
The auction includes another Washington portrait, a painting by Rembrandt Peale that is expected to sell for between US$300,000 and US$500,000. The artwork—which comes with an autographed letter from 1852 signed by Peale to the original owner, Enoch Dean of Philadelphia—is being sold by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York to benefit its acquisitions and direct care fund.
Also of note is a large (51 inch by 44-inch) portrait of Benjamin Franklin that’s being sold by the Founding Father’s descendants. Created in 1834 by the Philadelphia artist Thomas Sully and his daughter Jane Cooper Sully, the painting features Franklin in a thoughtful pose looking over documents and is valued at between US$100,000 and US$200,000.
The auction is the highlight of Christie’s Americana Week, which also includes a pair of live sales on Jan. 17 (titled Fine Printed and Manuscript Americana) and Jan. 18 (19th Century American & Western Art).
“This sale is a window into America at the time of the Revolution, from the bottom up and top down. We have folk art made for the people, and we have furniture made for the ‘point-one percenters’ of the day,” Zimmerman says.
Of particular note this year is the program of fine furniture. Highlights include two chairs that demonstrate the skill of master carver John Pollard: a Deshler side chair (c. 1769, estimate: US$100,000-US$150,000) and a Dickinson side chair (c. 1770, estimate: US$60,000-US$90,000).
“We’ve had great successes in recent years with exceptional folk art, but it’s been years since we’ve had such a rich selection of high-style furniture. This will be a real test of where the market for top-level furniture is,” Zimmerman says.
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