The Isabel Goldsmith Collection: Selected Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist Art, which spans more than 40 years of collecting, is accessible online till July 14 as a part of London’s Classic Week Summer edition.
The collection, which consists of 87 pieces, addresses topics such as sleep, dreams, the afterlife, spirituality, beauty, literature, and classical subjects. The star lot of the auction, The return of Orpheus by Sidney Harold Meteyard (estimate: 200,000-300,000 pounds), as well as pieces by Edward Burne-Jones, John Roddam Spencer-Stanhope, Simeon Solomon, Evelyn De Morgan, and Henry Ryland are included in the collection of Pre-Raphaelites and their adherents’ works.
Levy-Dhurmer, Fernand Khnopf, and George Frederic Watts are among the symbolist artists whose works are on display, and there are also several Scandinavian landscapes in the sale. With estimates ranging from 600 to 300,000 pounds, the collection is expected to realise in excess of 1 million pounds. The pre-sale view will be open to the public from July 9 to 14.
Peter Brown, Senior Director, International Specialist, Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and British Impressionist Art, 19th-Century European Art, Christie’s commented: “Isabel Goldsmith has long impressed me with the curiosity and delight with which she encounters works of art. Hers is a singular vision: many of these Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist pictures carry a mystical or spiritual dimension. This is an intriguing sale, full of the unexpected, which delights the eye and presents the market with rare opportunities to acquire notable works by Burne-Jones, De Morgan and Watts, and Khnopff, Stevens, and Levy-Dhurmer. Watts’ The Open Door’ (estimate: 10,000-15,000 pounds) is sold to benefit Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village.”
The Return of Orpheus by Sidney Harold Meteyard, which is estimated to sell for between 200,000 pounds and 300,000 dollars is illustrated on page one with an in-person archive shot from 1992, commands the highest price. From left to right, additional highlights include Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones’ Luna (estimate: 70,000-100,000 pounds), Simeon Solomon’s Death Awakening Sleep (estimate: 10,000-15,000), Evelyn De Morgan’s The Field of the Slain (estimate: 30,000-50,000 pounds), and Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones’ Study for the Head of Medusa for “The Finding of Medusa” (1876) (estimate: 15,000-25,000 pounds).
Highlights include Fernand Khnopff’s La Medusa endormie, ca. 1896 (estimate: 80,000-120,000 pounds, illustrated on page 1), Ophelie (Ophelia), 1887 by Alfred Stevens (estimate: 60,000-100,000 pounds), La bourrasque, 1897 by Lucien Levy-Dhurmer (estimate: 100,000-150,000 pounds), and The Search-Light by Evelyn De Morgan (estimate: 70,000-100,000 pounds). (IANSlife)
