“This should be the star of the show,” commented Gene Shannon moments before the start of Shannon’s Fine American and European Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture auction on Thursday evening, May 4. The painting he was speaking of was Henri Fantin-Latour’s oil on canvas, “Bouquet d’Hiver,” and it was not long before it crossed the auction block and those words would ring true.

The painting, estimated at $150/250,000, depicted a bouquet of flowers in a glass vase and went on to become the highest priced painting ever sold by the auction gallery as it broke the $1 million mark. Bidding on the Fantin-Latour opened at $70,000 with a bidder in the gallery chasing the lot, although in the end it came down to a woman seated in the rear of the gallery, communicating on her Blackberry, and a telephone bidder who pushed the lot to a final selling price of $1,027,000.

The painting was but one of more than 250 quality paintings offered by the auction house during a sale that many considered Shannon’s strongest offering to date. A complete review of the auction will appear in a future issue.

-DSS