Second Day of the “Russian Paintings” Auction Event at Sotheby’s

Posted on Jun 10 - Filed Under Arts

In the second day of the “Russian Painters” event by Sotheby’s London auction house, the morning auction did not result in any million dollars sales. The highest hammer price was 325,250 GBP (~$630,627) and was paid for Mihaly Zichy’s “Military Group Portrait”. It was sold way above the pre-auction estimate of 20,000-30,000 GBP.

Zichy is actually a Hungarian painter (born in Hungary in 1827 in the city of Zala ) but in 1847, he moved to Saint Petersburg, Russia, where he became the drawing teacher of one of the Russian Czar’s relatives. While he is not a Russian artist by nationality, he was commissioned by the Russian aristocracy on and off during his whole life. I believe his work was included in today’s auction event due to his connection to this region and to the era which is covered by the auction.