Lot 12. Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Portrait of an architect, possibly Giovanni Dal Coro, oil on canvas, 86 x 120 cm. Est. £200,000-300,000 / €224,000-336,000 / $246,000-369,000. Sold for £416,750 ($526,980) (€489,763) to a UK Private. Photo: Sotheby's.

LONDON.- “Key to tonight’s success was the extraordinary provenance of a large proportion of the sale, with many of the works coming to the market for the first time, not just in decades but in centuries. The hunger of the market for such works was demonstrated by the participation of multiple bidders on so many of the lots, with paintings being driven well in excess of their estimates by a broad spectrum of private collectors and dealers from across the globe. In a collecting field as old as ours, it’s thrilling still to be introducing works by great masters to the market for the very first time.” ---Alex Bell, Sotheby’s Worldwide Co-Chairman of Old Master Paintings  

TONIGHT’S SALE AT A GLANCE: 

· Tonight’s sale totalled an above-high-estimate £14,835,500 / $18, 759,490 / €17,434,632 

· Pre-sale estimate: £7,990,000-11,850,000 

· 80% of the lots sold above high estimate 

· Sell-through rate of 83% - second-highest rate for a Sotheby’s London Old Masters Evening Sale 

· 40% increase in participants compared to last year’s equivalent sale 

· 25% increase on geographical spread of participants compared to last year’s equivalent sale, with strong bidding from Russia, Asia and the traditional markets throughout the sale 

· 5 auction records achieved 

TOP LOTS 

• The Top lot of tonight’s sale was a beautifully preserved version of Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s Return from the Kermesse, which realised £2.6m (Lot 34, est. £2-3m). This boisterous depiction of villagers returning from a country fair, full of merriment and abandon, enjoyed great popularity during the artist’s lifetime. 

Lot 34. Pieter Brueghel the Younger (Brussels 1564 - 1637/8 Antwerp), Return from the Kermesse, signed lower left: P. BREVGHEL, oil on oak panel, 50 x 79 cm.; 19. by 31. in. Est. £ 2,000,000-3,000,000/ €2,240,000-3,360,000 / $2,460,000-3,690,000. Sold for: £2,577,500 ($3,259,249) (€3,029,070) to a Private Collector. Photo: Sotheby's

 • The second-highest price achieved tonight was for an exceptional early Renaissance portrait by Titian and his studio, Portrait of two boys, said to be members of the Pesaro Family, which realised an above-high-estimate of £2.1m (Lot 11, est. £1-1.5m). This ranks as the fourth highest price achieved at auction for any work by Titian. This striking work is a rarity in the genre of portraiture, as it is one of the first and very few double portraits in Renaissance painting. Its originality also lies in the intensely expressive representation of childhood, rarely seen in Titian’s oeuvre. 

Lot 11. Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian, and workshop (Pieve di Cadore circa 1485/90 - 1576 Venice), Portrait of two boys, said to be members of the Pesaro family, signed with initials lower left: T F, oil on canvas, 91.5 x 77 cm.; 36 x 30¼ in. Est. £1-1.5 million / € 1,120,000-1,680,000 / US$ 1,230,000-1,850,000. Sold for £2,108,750 ($2,666,514) (€2,478,196) to an Anonyme. Photo: Sotheby's

• Lorenzo Lotto’s Portrait of an Architect fetched £416,750 (Lot 12, est. £200,000-300,000) – a record price in sterling for the artist. A recently discovered addition to the artist’s oeuvre, the work was probably painted in the 1540s. 

Lot 12. Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556), Portrait of an architect, possibly Giovanni Dal Coro, oil on canvas, 86 x 120 cm. Est. £200,000-300,000 / €224,000-336,000 / $246,000-369,000. Sold for £416,750 ($526,980) (€489,763) to a UK Private. Photo: Sotheby's. 

• A magnificent 15th-Century Italian gold-ground by the Master of the Osservanza - one of the most prominent Sienese artists of the first half of the 15th century - Flagellation, fetched twice the high estimate at £1.4m (Lot 22, est. £400,000-600,000). This beautiful gold-ground painting from 1441 served as a file cover for official documents relating to the city state of Siena and has remained in the collection of famous German painter Franz von Lenbach for over a century. 

Lot 22. Master of the Osservanza (Active in Siena during the second quarter of the 15th century), The Flagellation, inscribed and dated 1441:Questa et lentrata et luscita della generale cabella del comuno di Siena altempo degli egregij et / honorevogli cittadini Filippo di pietro del giorgi[e]ra [ch]amarlengo Nicholo di griffolo da litiano / Urbano giovanegli Antonio di iacomo del golia Giovanni dandrea dicino executori di cabella / e di Guccio di petro menghini scriptore cominciato a di po di gennaio. 1440 finito a di ultimo / di giugno. 1441. et di sere Anbrugio dandrea bonegli loro notaro. Gabella. Panel, tempera and gold on poplar panel, 45 x 30.5 cm.; 17 ¾ x 12 in. Est. £400,000-600,000 / € 448,000-675,000 / $ 491,000-740,000. Sold for £1,388,750 ($1,756,074) (€1,632,055) to a Private Collector. *AUCTION RECORD FOR THE ARTIST* Photo: Sotheby's

• A magnificent gold-ground painting of the Nativity by Bicci di Lorenzo, one of the most important painters of early 15th-century Florence, sold for £368,750 (Lot 23, est. £300,000-500,000) – a record price for the artist. 

Lot 23. Bicci di Lorenzo (Florence 1373 - 1452), The Nativity, tempera on poplar panel, gold ground, 88 x 58 cm.; 34⅝ x 22⅞ in. Est. £300,000-500,000 / € 336,000-560,000 / $369,000-615,000. Sold for £368,750 ($466,284) (€433,354)to a Private Collector. *AUCTION RECORD FOR THE ARTIST* Photo: Sotheby's.

• The stunning A Still life of tulips, wild roses, cyclamen, yellow ranunculus, forget-me-not and other flowers, in a glass beaker by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, who led the sudden outburst of flower painting in the Netherlands at the start of the 17th century, sold for £1m (Lot 37, est. £800,000-1.2m). 

Lot 37. Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (Antwerp 1573 - 1621 The Hague), Still life of tulips, wild roses, cyclamen, yellow ranunculus, forget-me-not and other flowers, in a glass beaker, signed in monogram lower right, oil on copper, 19.4 x 12.9 cm.; 7¾ x 5 in. Est. £800,000-1,200,000 / €900,000-1,350,000 / $985,000-1,480,000. Sold for £1,088,750 ($1,376,724) (€1,279,496) to an European Private. Photo: Sotheby's

STRONG PRICES FOR PRIVATE COLLECTIONS 
Tonight’s sale was characterised by fresh to market works, sourced from a selection of important collections. Over two thirds of works offered were appearing on the market for the first time in half a century. Almost 50% of the works offered tonight had remained in the same collection for over a century. 

• The three works offered from the collection of the Marquess of Lothian sold for a combined total of £794,000 (Lots 1,3-4, est. £100,000-140,000), including Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael’s A river landscape at dusk with a fisherman on a bank in the foreground selling for ten times high estimate at £512,750 (Lot 3, est. £30,000-40,000). 

Lot 3. Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael (Haarlem 1628/9 - 1682 Amsterdam), A river landscape at dusk with a fisherman on a bank in the foreground, signed in monogram and dated lower left: JVR / 1649, oil on oak panel, 17.8 x 29 cm.; 7 1/8  x 11 3/8  in. Estimate £30,000 - 40,000. Sold for £512,750 ($648,372) (€602,582) to a Private Collector. Photo: Sotheby's.

• The ten works sold from the Forbes Collection brought a combined total of £3.9m (Lots 514, est. £1.7-2.5m) – a collection assembled by Sir William Forbes, the Scottish banker and 7th Baronet of Pitsligo in the 19th-Century. This was led by the double portrait by Titian and his studio, Portrait of two boys and Lorenzo Lotto’s Portrait of an architect (detailed in Top Lots above). 

• The four works sold from the Rutter Collection doubled pre-sale expectations, bringing a combined total of £1.9m (Lots 15-20, est. £420,000-610,000). These works come from a collection formed in the 1950s and 60s by the Viennese businessman Karl Rutter. This included David Teniers the Younger’s Boys blowing bubbles in an interior selling for over four times its high estimate at £680,750 (Lot 18, est. £80,000-120,000); Roelandt Savery’s The Temptation of Saint Anthony similarly sold for over five times its high estimate at £440,750 (Lot 17, est. £60,000-80,000). 

Lot 18. David Teniers the Younger (Antwerpt 1610 - 1690 Brussels), Boys blowing bubbles in an interior, signed upper right: D. TENIERS, oil on oak panel, 31 x 25 cm.; 12 1/4  x 9 7/8  in. Estimate £80,000 - 120,000. Sold for £680,750 ($860,808) (€800,015) to an Anonymous. Photo: Sotheby's.

Lot 17. Roelandt Savery (Kortridj 1576 - 1639 Utrecht), The Temptation of Saint Anthony, oil on beechwood panel, 17.5 x 26.7 cm.; 7 x 10 1/2  in. Estimate £60,000-80,000. Sold for £440,750 ($557,328) (€517,968) to an European Private. Photo: Sotheby's.

AUCTION RECORDS 

Lot 19. Roelandt Savery (Kortridj 1576 - 1639 Utrecht), Orpheus charming the animals, signed and dated lower right on the rock: R.SAVERY / FE.1618, oil on oak panel, 29.6 x 41.8 cm.; 11 3/4  x 16 1/2  in. Estimate £80,000 - 120,000. Sold for £452,750 ($572,502) (€532,070) to an European Trade. Photo: Sotheby's.

Lot 41. George Romney (Dalton 1734 - 1802 Kendal), Portrait of Peter Woodhouse (b. 1745), full-length, wearing a red coat, with his black and white pointer, a gun and a brace of grey partridges, a view of Warton Crag, Lancaster, beyond; oil on canvas, 196 x 128.5 cm.; 77 1/8  x 50 5/8  in. Estimate £300,000 - 500,000. Sold for £368,750 ($466,284) (€433,354) to a Private Collector. Photo: Sotheby's.

Lot 15. Workshop of Albrecht Bouts (Leuwen circa 1452/5 - 1549 Place Unknown), Ecce Homo, oil on oak panel, rounded top, 41.7 x 27.3 cm.; 16 3/8  x 10 3/4  in. Estimate £40,000 - 60,000. Sold for £368,750 ($466,284) (€433,354) to a Private Collector. Photo: Sotheby's.

Lot 32. Jacob Savery the Elder (Kortridj circa 1565 - 1603 Amsterdam), The Season of Winter: a snowy landscape with a wedding procession and figures playing on the ice outside a walled town, oil on oak panel, 41 x 67.2 cm.; 16 x 26 1/2  in. Estimate £200,000 - 300,000. Sold for £368,750 ($466,284) (€433,354) to an European Trade *AUCTION RECORD FOR THE ARTIST*. Photo: Sotheby's.

Lot 7. School of Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn. circa 1650, A kitchen interior and a woman plucking a chicken with a copper pot, baskets and a plate of fish, oil on canvas, 158.4 x 176 cm.; 62 3/8  x 69 1/4  in. Estimate £100,000 — 150,000. Sold for ££368,750 ($466,284) (€433,354) to a Private Collector. Photo: Sotheby's.

Lot 21. Master of the Straus (Active in Florence, circa 1380-1420), Madonna for Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist, Saint Anthony Abbot, Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Margaret, tempera and gold on panel, shaped top, 101 x 58.8 cm.; 39 3/4  x 23 1/8  in. (with later extensions). Estimate £80,000 — 120,000. Sold for £193,750 ($244,997) (€(227,694) to an European Private. Photo: Sotheby's.