Overview
- The Thomas Lawrence portrait of Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington, sold for £9.67 million at Christie’s in London, setting a new auction record for the artist and exceeding its £8–12 million pre-sale estimate.
- Christie’s presented the work as painted after the 1815 Battle of Waterloo and exhibited in 1822, details that the auction house and specialists say strengthened its provenance and collector interest.
- The Old Masters Evening Sale helped push Christie’s Classic Week totals above £50.7 million, a result Maja Markovic linked to the historical importance and clear ownership history of key lots.
- Several other lots beat expectations, including Jan van Huysum floral paintings (£6.5m and £5.5m), a Peter Paul Rubens sketch (£2.7m), an Egyptian limestone statue (£3.7m), a Churchill humidor that sold for £330,200 and a first edition pairing of Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey that fetched £1.2m.
- The strong results underline active demand from both private buyers and institutions for rare works with documented history, a trend that could lift prices for similarly provenanced art and books at future sales.