Stolen Art DealerA procession of festively decorated gondolas crossing the Giudecca Canal toward the Redentore church, carrying three paintings, with other Venetian landmarks in the middle distance.
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Catalogue No. 1039 · Christie's · New York
Depositing of John Bellini's Three Pictures in La Chiesa Redentore, Venice
About $38 million in today’s money: 430 years of the typical US household’s income. Source
- Artist
- J.M.W. Turner (British, 1775-1851)
- Title
- Depositing of John Bellini's Three Pictures in La Chiesa Redentore, Venice
- Date
- 1841
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 73.7 x 115.6 cm (29 x 45 1/2 in.)
Turner painted this view of Venice in 1841, in oil on canvas, 73.7 by 115.6 centimetres. It is titled Depositing of John Bellini's Three Pictures in La Chiesa Redentore, Venice. A procession of gondolas hung with festive decoration carries three paintings across the Giudecca Canal to the Redentore church, and further landmarks of Venice stand behind them.
The provenance begins with Charles Birch, by 1841. It then passed to Joseph Gillott of Birmingham in 1847, Thomas Rought of London in 1849, and Thomas Agnew and Sons of London in 1857. In 1897 J.P. Morgan bought it at the sale of Sir John Pender's collection, through Agnew, and it descended in his family. Myron Charles Taylor, the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, acquired it about 1947.
Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner, acquired it in 1961, and a private collection followed in 1969. In 1999 it was acquired by the owner whose collection Christie's later sold under the name of Paul G. Allen.
Christie's sold it in New York on 9 November 2022, as lot 46 in the first part of the Paul G. Allen Collection sale, for $33.6 million with buyer's premium. The estimate was $28 million to $35 million. It was not a record for the artist: Christie's cites $35,856,000 for another Turner, sold in 2006.
The sale
- Auction house
- Christie's, New York
- Date
- 9 November 2022
- Lot
- 46
- Estimate
- $28,000,000-35,000,000
- Sold for
- $33.6 million (including buyer’s premium) · $33,595,000
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Provenance
by 1841-1847
Charles Birch, Westfield House, Edgbaston and Metchley Abbey, Harbourne near Birmingham
1847-12
Joseph Gillott, Birmingham (acquired from the above, December 1847)
1849-01
Thomas Rought, London (acquired from the above, January 1849)
1855-06-13
Lloyd Brothers and Co., London; sale, Foster, London, 13 June 1855, lot 60 (unsold)
1857
Thomas Agnew & Sons, London (acquired from the above, 1857)
undated
Richard Hemming, Bentley Manor, Bromsgrove (acquired from the above); Mrs. Maude Cheape (née Hemming), Bentley Manor, Bromsgrove (by descent from the above)
1892
Thomas Agnew & Sons, London (acquired from the above, 1892)
1897-05-29
Sir John Pender, Middleton Hall, County Linlithgow, Foots Cray Place, Sidcup, Kent and Arlington House, London (acquired from the above); sale, Christie's, London, 29-31 May 1897, lot 84
1897
J.P. Morgan, New York (acquired at the above sale, through Agnew, then by descent)
circa 1947
Myron Charles Taylor, U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, New York (acquired from the above, circa 1947)
1961
Wildenstein & Co. and Thomas Agnew & Sons, London (acquired from the above, 1961); Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner (acquired from the above, 1961)
1969
Private collection (acquired from the above, 1969); Marlborough International Fine Art Establishment
1999-06-16
Acquired from the above by the late owner [Paul G. Allen], 16 June 1999
Sources
- Christie's lot page: Turner, Depositing of John Bellini's Three Pictures (lot 6397137)
- Christie's: Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection Part I, browse lots (lot 46, New York, 9 Nov 2022)
- Christie's press release: Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection Part I totals $1.5 billion in a single night
Prices include the buyer’s premium, in US dollars at the time of sale, unless marked as a hammer price.