A symbolic Maine painting done by one of the state’s master painters of the Twentieth Century brought a substantial price as it became the top lot at Barridoff Galleries recent auction. The sale, which generated an impressive $3.5 million, took place on Friday, August 5, at the Inn by the Bay.

Rob and Annette Elowitch called the auction a tremendous success with it being their highest grossing auction to date. “The telephones are still ringing,” said Rob Elowitch more than a week after the auction. “There isn’t much left that was passed, but they are still trying to buy.”

Elowitch commented that reaction to the sale overall was “fabulous” and that there was not only a serious crowd that bid actively throughout the night, but that there were also “tons” of phone and absentee bids that kept things lively.

The auction included 333 works that ranged in price from a low of $350 to a high of more than $330,000 for a selection of art that included everything from Old Masters paintings to contemporary works. Included in the offering was a grand selection of 24 Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century paintings and sculpture consigned from the local collection of Peter Walch, a recognized authority on the work of the Eighteenth Century artist Angelica Kauffman and the current director emeritus of the University of New Mexico Art Museum.

A symbolic Maine painting by Marsden Hartley titled “The Six Fish” was the top lot of the auction at $336,000.

The Walch collection lots were the first to be offered in thesale and they attracted quite a bit of attention. “We were quitepleased with the way the collection was received,” stated Elowitch.Included in the lots was what would ultimately become the secondhighest price achieved throughout the evening. The painting, anAngelica Kauffman 39-by-49-inch oil on canvas titled “VirgilWriting His Epitath at Brundisium,” achieved a solid price of$226,000. The lot was initially passed; before the sale ended,however, a substantial offer well above the reserves had beenaccepted by the gallery.

Other lots from the Walch collection included “A View of Pompeii” by William Parrott that nearly tripled estimates selling at $35,100, while an Old Masters painting, “Death of Orion” by Nicholas Guy Brenet, sold within estimates at $14,040. Two busts in the collection included a marble bust of “Bacchus” that sold at $15,210, while a plaster modello by Francois Rude of Gaspard Monge went out at $11,700.

A Seventeenth Century Old Master painting depicting “Rebecca at the Well” that had descended in the Rollins family did well, soaring past the $20/30,000 presale estimate as it realized $132,500.

The top lot of the auction came as a Marsden Hartley painting titled “The Six Fish” was offered. From Hartley’s “late” period, executed in 1941, the piece was filled with symbolic overtones relating to his time spent in Nova Scotia and the family there that had become so much a part of his life. Elowitch called the painting, which came in a late addition to the auction after the catalog had already gone to the printer, “extraordinary.” Sold as one of the last lots of the auction, the painting brought the most money with it selling to a “major collector of American art from the Midwest.”

Elowitch related that he had received a call from the consignor last February, “but then they decided not to sell it. They called again just after our catalog had gone to press,” he said, “and I told them I would come over and look at the painting. I almost fell over when I saw it. It was just so beautiful.”

The painting had bounced around New York City many years ago eventually “selling at Park Bernet in 1981 for roughly seven or eight thousand dollars, which is where our client got it. It had never been touched so he had it cleaned many years ago and it just looked spectacular.”

From the collection of Peter Walch, the Angelica Kauffman oil titled “Virgil Writing His Epitath at Brundisium” sold for $226,000.

Bidding on the lot was brisk with the lot hammering downafter spirited bidding from the gallery and the telephones for$336,000.

Two Abbott Fuller Graves paintings attracted a great deal of attention with a 24-by-20-inch canvas titled “In The Garden” bringing the most. The work was thought to be a painting of Celia Thaxter in her garden on Appledore on the Isle of Shoals. The colorful painting depicted hollyhocks and lilies on one side of a garden path with Thaxter tending to bushes of roses behind a small picket fence on the other side. An Impressionistic aire is added to the work with two houses on a bluff behind a small cove and billowing clouds in the summer sky. Estimated at $100/150,000, the painting was hammered down at $160,000.

Another Graves that was consigned to the auction to late to be cataloged and was ultimately offered as the second to last lot of the auction was a colorful work titled “Peonies.” Active bidding was also seen on this lot with it selling for $127,000.

“Street Scene, Paris,” an oil on canvas by Edouard Leon Cortes, easily exceeded estimates with it selling at $98,750, while a Gustav Courbet oil titled “The Orchard” sold at the high estimate bringing $49,725.

Another lot to blister past the presale estimates was a John Byam Shaw oil on board measuring 16 by 11 inches that was titled “And All The Winds Go Sighing…” Estimated at $8/12,000, the painting, which had descended in the McCormack family, was bid to $117,000.

One Modernist painting in the sale that attracted a great deal of attention from collectors and dealers was a Morris Kantor oil on canvas dated 1922. The piece, which had been identified while at Manhattan’s Zabriskie Gallery as a posthumous portrait of the artist’s mother, shot past the presale estimates of $12/18,000 with it hammering down at $58,500.

Nautical theme paintings were popular among the trade, locals and summer homeowners with a William Gay Yorke portrait of the American ship “Anglo Saxon” more than doubling estimates as it realized a strong $64,250. A Monhegan Island painting by Abraham Jacob Bogdanove titled “On The Beach” and depicting fishermen cleaning their catch with wind-blown boats in the background sold at $60,000, while a Jack Gray painting of a fisherman at sea in his dory brought $52,650.

Prices include the buyer’s premium.

For information regarding this auction or future consignments contact Barridoff Galleries, POB 9715, Portland ME 04104, 207-772-5011 or www.barridoff.com.