HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. – A previously unknown and apparently early work titled “Christ with Sainted Knights” by Joseph Christian Leyendecker (American, 1874-1951) soared past its $10/20,000 estimate to bring $88,800 from a phone bidder in Leland Little’s March 13 sale. The painting, which was done in oil on canvas measuring 30¼ by 20 inches and monogramed lower right, was consigned by a local picker who bought it at a small estate sale in South Carolina. According to the sale catalog, which acknowledges the expertise of Leyendecker expert and author Kent Steine, the work possibly dates to around 1900. The dating is based on the presence of the columns that frame the composition and the decorative border, while the style of monogram is one seen early in Leyendecker’s prodigious career. It is not known if this image was used as the basis for a magazine or book cover, of which the artist created more than 300 for Collier’s, Ladies Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post, to name a few.

A full sale recap will follow in a future issue.