Sotheby's Captures Record For American Portrait At Auction

NEW YORK CITY

: On November 30, in an overflowing salesroom at Sotheby's, a sale of American paintings, drawings and sculpture brought a total of $62,979,600, including a group of historical paintings, portraits and sculpture sold on behalf of The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. A record was set for an American portrait at auction when Gilbert Stuart's "Portrait of George Washington (The Constable-Hamilton Portrait)," sold to anonymous bidder for $8,136,000, also a record for the artist at auction.

Dara Mitchell and Peter Rathbone of Sotheby's American paintings, drawings and sculpture department, said, "The sale was the third highest total for a sale of American paintings at auction. Records were set for major artists, such as Gilbert Stuart, Grant Wood, Stuart Davis, John Singleton Copley, Guy Rose, Charles Prendergast and Samuel F.B. Morse, among others."

The work by Stuart was commissioned as a gift for Alexander Hamilton by New York merchant and landowner William Kerin Constable. The Revolutionary War hero and chief executive is shown half-length, seated and wearing a black velvet suit, in his hands is a document bearing his signature and a sword rests across his lap. This portrait was painted in Philadelphia in 1797 during Washington's final year in office and depicts the president's commanding stature. The seascape is unprecedented in Stuart's portraits of Washington and refers to Hamilton's political accomplishments regarding trade and commerce during his term as secretary of the treasury and his role in creating the US Navy. The portrait descended in Hamilton's family until 1896, when Hamilton's grandson, a trustee of the Astor Library, willed it to the institution. A marble bust of Alexander Hamilton by Guiseppe Ceracchi accompanied the sale of this portrait, as it accompanied the original bequest by Hamilton's descendants to the Astor Library.

Another record for an artist at auction was established when a portrait by John Singleton Copley, America's preeminent portraitist of the Eighteenth Century, titled "Mrs Theodore Atkinson, Jr (Francis Deering Wentworth)," sold for $3,376,000 to an anonymous bidder. Painted in 1765, the work depicts an elegant young woman seated at a table playing with a pet squirrel on a chain. The motif of the squirrel, used by Copley in a portrait of his half-brother, Henry Pelham, painted in the same year, won Copley acclaim when it was exhibited at the Society of Artists in London.

Thought to be one of the artist's most beautiful American subjects, Mrs Atkinson is depicted at age 19 opulently dressed in folds of satin and velvet. The portrait embodies the social sophistication and fashionable elegance to which many of Copley's sitters aspired, but also presents an astute portrayal of a young woman in full command of her obvious charms.

Grant Wood's iconic "Spring Plowing," the most important work by Wood to ever appear at auction, sold for $6.96 million. Painted in 1932, the painting depicts emerald green hills, neatly trimmed tracts of land and bright blue sky, which are emblematic of the distinctive agrarian vision that defined Wood's mature regionalist style.

Stuart Davis' "Rue de l'Échaudé," an oil on canvas painted in 1928, commanded $4,496,000, almost three times its high presale estimate. Offered from the collection of Josephine and Walter Buhl Ford II, this work was created by Davis during his yearlong excursion to Paris sponsored by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and her associate Juliana Force.

John Singer Sargent's "The Rialto," an oil on canvas painted circa 1909, brought $3,712,000. The artist chose an unusual angle from which to depict the Rialto bridge, orienting the viewer's perspective from below the Venetian landmark as if from a passing gondola.

A double-sided, three-panel screen by Charles Prendergast from the estate of Laurance S. Rockefeller, titled "Figures in a Landscape and Figures with Animals, Birds and Trees," fetched $1,584,000, more than twice the high estimate. Executed circa 1928-1932, it is one of only three known three-panel screens by the artist.

Prices reported include buyer's premium, which is 20 percent of the hammer price on the first $200,000, and 12 percent thereafter. For information, 212-606-7000 or www.sothebys.com.