Old Masters Part I

Spanning six centuries of European art, the July Old Masters Part I Sale includes a rich array of paintings, sculpture and illuminations across a multitude of themes.

Highlights include the landmark rediscovery of Rembrandt’s Portrait of Jan Willemsz. van der Pluym and Jaapgen Carels, both rare and intimate portrayals of relatives of the artist and the last known pair of portraits by Rembrandt to remain in private hands. It also includes a masterpiece of Northern Mannerism in Cornelis van Haarlem’s The Raising of Lazarus; a phantasmagorical vision of Hell in one of Jan Breughel the Elder’s finest examples of his famous Hell landscapes; a beautifully elaborate market scene of bountiful produce by Joachim Beuckelaer; a completely unpublished and unknown canvas by Michael Sweerts, perhaps his greatest picture on the theme of the artist’s studio; and a remarkable panel of The Entombment of Christ by El Greco, the intimate size of a cabinet picture, expressed with the grandeur and brilliant colouring for which El Greco was renowned.