CHRISTIE'S TO OFFER LARGEST OLD MASTER PAINTING EVER AT SALE

FOLLOWING THE RECORD-BREAKING SUCCESS OF ITS OLD MASTER & 19th CENTURY ART SALE IN DECEMBER LAST IN LONDON, CHRISTIE'S WILL PRESENT ITS FLAGSHIP NEW YORK SALE OF OLD MASTER & 19th CENTURY PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS AND WATERCOLOURS IN A TWO-PART SALE ON 27.JANUARY. THE EXTRAORDINARY SALE OF OVER 320 WORKS PRESENTS THE BEST EXAMPLES OF EUROPEAN ART FROM THE 15th TO THE 19th CENTURY, AND FEATURE MASTER WORKS AND RECENT REDISCOVERIES FROM LUCAS CRANACH THE ELDER, JAN BRUEGHEL II, THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH AMONG OTHERS. THE TOTAL SALES OF THE AUCTION ARE EXPECTED TO ACHIEVE IN EXCESS OF $48 MILLION.
AT OVER TWENTY FEET IN WIDTH, LE PONT SUR LE TORRENT, WHICH IS ESTIMATED AT $2-3 MILLION, BY THE 18th CENTURY FRENCH MASTER HUBERT ROBERT IS ONE OF THE LARGEST OLD MASTER PAINTINGS EVER TO BE SOLD AT CHRISTIE'S NEW YORK. THE VAST PAINTING, WHICH DEPICTS A WILD TORRENT OF ROARING WATERS DESCENDING INTO A WATERFALL BELOW AN ARCHED STONE BRIDGE, WAS ORIGINALLY COMMISSIONED BY THE DUC DE LUYNES FOR THE DINING ROOM OF HIS OPULENT PARIS TOWNHOUSE. SUBSEQUENT OWNERS INCLUDE THE AMERICAN NEWSPAPER BARON WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST, WHO INSTALLED THE PAINTING AND ITS EQUALLY MASSIVE MATE LA CASCADE IN HIS BEACHFRONT CASTLE IN SANDS POINT, LONG ISLAND. THOUGH THE PAIR WAS SEPARATED IN LATER YEARS, LE PONT SUR TORRENT SURVIVE IN ITS ORIGINAL STATE AS A MASTERPIECE OF DECORATIVE PAINTING WITH A DOMINATING PRESENCE THAT IS NEARLY CINEMATIC IN EFFECT. GIVEN ITS IMMENSE SIZE, THE CANVAS WILL BE STRETCHED ON-SITE AND INSTALLED IN CHRISTIE'S ROCKEFELLER CENTER GALLERIES, THE FIRST TIME IN MORE THAN 50 YEARS THAT THE PAINTING WILL BE PUBLICLY DISPLAYED.