The unfashionable collecting category of Victorian art received a boost last night at Sotheby’s in London, when the collection of the late U.K. diplomat David Scott sold for 4.6 million pounds ($6.8 million) with fees.
Eighty-eight percent of the auction’s 242 lots found buyers. While the sale, with auction-house fees, missed its total presale estimate of 5 million pounds based on hammer prices, dealers said it was more successful than recent Victorian-art auctions.
Described by London dealer Rupert Maas as “the finest collection of Victorian narrative paintings left in private hands,” the works had been bought by Scott, a knight and World War I veteran, over several decades. Scott died in 1986 at the age of 99.
“We haven’t seen the galleries and the saleroom as full and busy for a Victorian picture sale for many years,” said Grant Ford, Sotheby’s specialist in charge of the auction, in an e- mailed statement.
A record 1 million pounds with fees was paid for Sophie Anderson’s sentimental 1850s oil, “No Walk Today,” showing an elaborately dressed little girl gazing dejectedly through a window at falling rain. The 19-inch-high canvas, bought by Scott in 1926, had been expected to fetch between 600,000 pounds and 800,000 pounds. The buyer was an anonymous bidder at the back of the saleroom who left immediately after making his purchase.
Ford said the collection had especially attracted attention from “our established clients in the U.K.”(Bloomberg)