On June 5 Christie’s will hold its Old Master Paintings sale in New York, where it will offer a number of masterpieces that are totally irresistible to art collectors. Over 100 works will be presented to bidders, dating from the 15th to 19th century, and coming from British, French, German/Austrian, and Italian schools.
The most remarkable and important lot of the auction will be a 1624 painting depicting a man and a woman singing together by candlelight. It is Gerrit van Honthorst’sThe Duet, a beautiful piece with an excellent provenance. It used to belong to collector Bruno Spiro, but then after World War II it was taken away from his home by the Nazis.
It has spent the last four decades at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, but last month it was returned to Spiro’s heirs, its rightful owners. Still in pristine condition, it went to the hands of Russian Count Alexander Stroganov, and it was also part of The Hermitage Museum. It is expect to go for $2 million and $3 million.
