Sotheby’s is all set for their upcoming live auction, “The Gilded Age Revisited: Property from a Distinguished American Collection” to be held on February 2, 2019. “Sotheby’s upcoming single-owner sale honors the keen eye and passion of an important American collector who brought together fine examples over the course of decades. With paintings from the Old Masters to the Impressionists, exceptional pieces of 18th and 19th Century continental furniture and decorative art, and Asian art, a grand vision is captured in our forthcoming auction, ‘The Gilded Age Revisited,’” stated the auction house in a press release. Describing the “Gilded Age,’’ the auction house commented, “The Gilded Age was a period of unprecedented economic growth in America, allowing for culture and creativity to flourish. Powerful collectors like Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Mellon, amassed important works of European furniture, decorative and fine art, laying the foundation for America’s greatest Institutional collections which have influenced generations of artists, curators, filmmakers, designers and collectors.” A number of art pieces will be offered at this auction in 197 lots. The artwork with the highest pre-auction estimate to go under the hammer at this online auction is “Paquerettes,” an oil painting on canvas by William Bouguereau, whose pre-auction value is estimated to be between USD 400,000 and USD 600,000. Describing the painting, Sotheby’s stated, “While many of William Bouguereau's iconic peasant girls stare with melancholic expressions, the young girl in “Paquerettes,” who wears a silk dress with ruffled collar and matching bow, smiles with conviction. The present work reaches for universal themes of childhood and contains many elements that made Bouguereau compositions so instantly recognizable. The stone bench set in a deep forest and the inclusion of a narrative prop, for example, are typical features of the artist’s oeuvre, and the daisy serves as a familiar symbol of childhood innocence. The official title “Paquerettes” takes this work out of specificity and towards a universality for which Bouguereau's paintings of children have come to be celebrated.’’The first known private owner of the present work was Theodore E. Smith of Brooklyn, New York, who purchased “Paquerettes” from Knoedler & Co. in 1895. Smith was the president of the Spencerian Pen Company and was considered a patron of the arts and culture in his native Brooklyn Heights.” The painting was acquired by the present owner in 2001 from Richard Green in London. https://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin
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