NEW HAVEN, CONN. – Fred Giampietro’s New Haven Auctions ended its two-day sale of antiques from the estate of anthropologists and food historians Michael and Sophie Coe, baseball, sports and historical items on June 28 with an oil on canvas painting by John Martin (1789-1854) titled “The Destruction of the Cities of the Plains” leaving the gallery at $550,000, inclusive of buyer’s premium. Signed lower center, dated 1823, the work was purchased in 1965 from Leggatt Brothers – Fine Art Dealers in London, according to catalog notes. Its frame size was 43¼ by 66 inches. Martin was an English Romantic painter, engraver and illustrator known for vast and melodramatic paintings of religious subjects and fantastic compositions, populated with minute figures placed in imposing landscapes.

A full review of the sale will follow.