This Seventeenth Century unsigned oil on cradled oak panel, “Portrait of a Girl,” cataloged as after Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn, was the top lot many times over, soaring from its $10/15,000 presale estimate to a stratospheric $1,410,000. It is going overseas into a private European collection.
Review by W.A. Demers
THOMASTON, MAINE — Hiding out in an attic in a Camden, Maine, estate, a Seventeenth Century unsigned oil on cradled oak panel, “Portrait of a Girl,” cataloged as after Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669) was given a $10/15,000 presale estimate for Thomaston Place Auction Galleries’ 2024 Summer Grandeur sale on August 23-25. With 123 bidders watching, the painting began at $5,000 and soon escalated into the tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands, finishing after more than 60 bids at a stratospheric $1,410,000.
Like many legendary overachievers, the portrait was found in a typical house call of a private collection in Camden. The only clue to its celebrity status was a slip of paper on the back of the painting from the Philadelphia Museum of Art attributing the work to Rembrandt. Of course, a slip of paper, however tantalizing, does not prove authentication, hence, the “after Rembrandt” attribution. “It was in the attic among stacks of art that we found this remarkable portrait,” Kaja Veilleux, owner and founder of Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, said in a press release, adding, “We often go in blind.”
Contacted by Antiques and The Arts Weekly following the sale, Veilleux said that after 26 hours total of selling, he was feeling great.
Veilleux demurred on saying where the portrait went, only to say it was going out of the country into a private collection. In a later news story, the Portland Herald Press reported that the painting will go to “a private European collector.”
Kaja Veilleux selling “Portrait of a Girl,” cataloged as after Rembrandt, for $1.4 million on the second day of Thomaston’s 2024 “Summer Grandeur Sale.”
The firm’s late summer auction, which totaled $3.5 million, continued its tradition of presenting a sale packed with art and decorative rarities. The sale posted a 90 percent sell-through rate over the three days with 1,439 registered bidders on three platforms with phones, left bids and in-galley bidding.
Not grabbing as many headlines but outperforming nonetheless, was a six-panel byobu (folding screen), done in ink, color, gofun (white pigment) and gold-leaf by Gakyojin Hokusai (Japanese, active 1800-06) depicting a fierce battle. It was estimated $10/15,000 but did much better, finishing at $48,000. Catalog notes supplied information that the artist was a student of Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and the screen depicted Hideyoshi Toyotomi’s (1536-1599) conquest of Korea in 1592. The battle scene was ferocious with hundreds of soldiers and their arms and clan battle flags. The story was told over six panels, each 24 by 65 inches. With seals, the late Edo period (1603-1868) folding screen stretched to an overall measurement of 12 feet.
Another portrait, this one a “Portrait of a Young Man” by Andrea Solario (Italian, 1465-1522), a Renaissance painter of the Milanese School, more than doubled its high estimate when it was bid to $37,500. The unsigned oil on cradled poplar panel bore a Christie’s (London) label verso. It was housed in a gilt Florentine architectural frame and measured 30½ by 25½ inches.
“Portrait of a Young Man” by Andrea Solario, an Italian Renaissance painter of the Milanese School, oil on cradled poplar panel, more than doubled its high estimate, selling at $37,500.
Slingshotting from the Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth among the top lots, an Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987) screenprint on black paper with diamond dust was a limited edition artist’s proof titled “Mammy,” which closed at $31,250. Numbered “24/30,” it was housed in a Lexan closed box frame and measured 41½ by 41½ inches. Catalog notes stated that it was purchased by the consignor from Michael Lisi Contemporary Art in New York City in April 2018. According to Artsy, Warhol’s 1981 “Myths” portfolio, of which “Mammy” is included, is among the artist’s most sought-after print series. There are 10 silkscreens in the portfolio, each portraying a fictional character that the artist believed was endemic to American culture. Reportedly, Warhol’s friends and actor acquaintances posed in costume and makeup for the artist’s Polaroid camera, and the resulting silkscreens became, again, according to Artsy, “quintessential Warhols, showcasing the power and persuasion of popular culture.”
More fine art was featured. “Serenidad, Arriba,” a monumental acrylic on canvas by Mercedes Pardo (Venezuelan, 1922-2005), a calm “mindscape,” realized $24,000. Signed and titled verso, dated 1987, it came in a 50-by-57-inch white shadow-line frame.
A winter coastal scene by Don Stone (1929-2015), a New England artist, showed White Head on Monhegan Island besieged by stormy surf. The oil on linen painting, signed lower right “Don Stone, NA,” elicited $22,800. Housed in an Arts and Crafts-style frame, the 49-by-59-inch painting was titled verso on a Bayview Galleries of Camden, Maine, label, with an original price of $38,000.
New England artist Don Stone’s stormy winter coastal scene, titled “White Head, Monhegan Island,” an oil on linen painting, left the gallery at $22,800.
Maine favorite Jamie Wyeth (b 1946) was represented in the sale by an untitled 1958 watercolor on board (Derelict), signed lower right, depicting the schooner Eva S. Cullison laid up on land in Camden in 1958. Simple math tells us he painted this at the age of 12, as described in an accompanying letter that read, “. . . My father and I often went on painting ‘rambles’ along the Rockland waterfront. On this particular trek, we came upon this derelict schooner Eva S. Cullison. I chose to paint the bow view, while he chose the side view (‘The Slip’). . . . ‘I loved our painting rambles!’” Also included in the lot was a newspaper clipping from February 2010, stating that this painting sold for $11,115 at Pook & Pook of Downingtown, Penn. This time around, it brought $23,750.
“Portrait of a Wealthy Boston Brahmin Writing,” circa 1770, by John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) shows his subject in a gray outfit with gold buttons and a matching gray wig. Fetching $21,250, the oil on linen painting was unsigned with a gallery label verso and came housed in a gilt carved frame.
British artist John Sargeant Noble (1848-1896) set about to portray man’s best friend in “A Portrait of Three Dogs,” with hounds in a barnyard. The oil on canvas, signed lower left and dated 1876, was housed in a gilt cove frame measuring 33 by 46 inches, and left the gallery at $21,250.
“A Portrait of Three Dogs” by British artist John Sargeant Noble portrayed hounds in a barnyard. The oil on canvas crossed the block at $21,250.
Going out at $17,500 were both an oil on canvas portrait by Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828) and an oil on board landscape by Edward Willis Redfield (1869-1965), one of the great New Hope, Bucks County, Penn., Impressionists. Elisabeth Bender Greenough’s (Mrs David Greenough) likeness, done about 1805, was unsigned and in a hand-carved lotus wreath gilt frame. Catalog notes stated that David Stoddard Greenough was a builder and a real estate developer in Boston, working with the architect Charles Bulfinch, among others.
“Winter Brook and Road Lined by Birch Trees,” was signed by Redfield lower right and dated 1946. It was housed in a gold matched corner shallow cove Arts and Crafts frame, measuring 36½ by 30½ inches.
Decorative arts were led by a Feodor Ruckert (1840-1917) silver cloisonné enamel loving cup, a tour de force of the Russian’s cloisonné enamel artistry; it realized $31,205. Made in Moscow circa 1896-1908, the three-handled cup was of baluster form with ropework rim and curved handles. The 4-inch-high cup’s upper section and handles had shaded polychrome floral and vine decoration on a cream ground; alternating floral decorated teardrop shapes were featured in the lobes below. The base was stamped with a Cyrillic maker’s stamp, Kokoshnik mark, and with engraved presentation inscription: “M.L.S. and W.M.S., Nov. 18-1900.”
An oil on board landscape by Edward Willis Redfield, “Winter Brook and Road Lined by Birch Trees,” was $17,500.
And because every Thomaston Place three-day sale aims to attract the interest of a broad swath of potential bidders, there were vehicles and farm equipment among the notable results. Topping the category was a 2015 GMC 3500 flatbed truck with 7,534 miles; ready to go for the next winter season, it motored off for $51,600, while a practical 2017 Toyota Tacoma SR5 double cab light pickup truck carried bids to $31,200. A large backhoe loader made by John Deere scooped up a final price of $32,400, and what the catalog characterized as a “barely used” John Deere tractor with front loader and rear bush-cutter found a buyer at $24,000.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. The firm’s next sale is scheduled for November 8-10 — a three-day fall feature, Autumn Majestic 2024. For information, 207-354-8141 or www.thomastonauction.com.
