Some of the rare masterworks by Gustave Courbet, Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, Jean Beraud, William Bouguereau, Jean-Leon Gerome will be offered at Sotheby’s bi-annual 19th Century European Art sale on 9 May 2013. Highlights of the sale will be Gustave Courbet’s Nu Couche, a previously unrecorded nude from 1866 (the same year he painted the famed L’Origine du monde), which is a third version of two known works dated 1866. Estimated between $600,000 – $800,000, this painting will be on view in Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries beginning on 3 May 2013.
With the same estimated price of $600,000-$800,000, Jean Beraud’s Leaving Montmartre Cemetery from 1876 will be also offered on sale. This painting which showcases the bohemian energy of Paris in the late 19th century is on the cover of Sotheby’s May catalogue.
Other highlights of the upcoming sale include a painting by the most important Spanish Impressionist painter, Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, Palacio de Carlos V, Alcazar de Sevilla from 1908, estimated at $300,000 – $500,000; six works by French painter William Bouguereau, led by his stunning Moissonneuse from 1868, estimated at $600,000 – $800,000.
Among others 19th century artworks, Sotheby’s points out Victorian paintings by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, John Atkinson Grimshaw and John William Godward, as well as an exceptional group of Orientalist works, including masterpieces by American artists Frederick Arthur Bridgman and Edwin Lord Weeks, as well as important works by Jean-Leon Gerome.
