Preview of sale of Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Donatello works
(21 Jan 2006)
1. Exterior of Christie's auction place
2. Cameramen filming artwork
3. Michelangelo's "Study of a Male Nude"
4. Close-up of Michelangelo's "Study of a Male Nude"
5. SOUNDBITE (English) William O'Reilly, Director of Old Master's Drawings at Christies:
"It is a very unique survival as I say, so many were destroyed. There are less than five still in private hands, by Michaelangelo. And I think very few of them are as late as this, and certainly there are very few of these academic, these male study drawings, still in private hands, which are so characteristic of the artist."
6. man photographing drawing
7. Exterior of Sotheby's
8. Interior of gallery
9. People looking at "Portrait of an Elderly Woman In a White Bonnet" by Rembrandt
10. Close-up of "Portrait of an Elderly Woman In a White Bonnet" by Rembrandt
11. Close-up and pan left of "Portrait of an Elderly Woman In a White Bonnet" by Rembrandt
12. SOUNDBITE (English) George Wachter, Vice Chairman of Sothebys and worldwide Head of Master's Paintings at Sothebys:
"Rembrandt, along with Vermeer (another Dutch painter), is the most important Dutch artist of the 17th century and one of the most important and famous and artists that ever lived and there aren't that may of them around that aren't in museums and so when one comes up people want to get one and it's sort of the capstone of any collector of Dutch Paintings to have a Rembrandt."
5. Close-up of woman looking at Rembrandt painting
6. Wide of "The Borromeo Madonna" by Donatello
7. "The Borromeo Madonna" by Donatello
8. Close-up and pan "The Borromeo Madonna" by Donatello
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Margaret Schwartz, Senior Vice President of European Works of Art at Sotheby's:
"It's important because there are no Donatello's in the public domain, outside of Italy, or outside of museums. There is only one in the United States, a "Madonna and Child" relief that is, in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and that's in marble. And what's so exciting about this object is that it's so distinctly of this sculptor, it is so distinctly Donatello, a lot of the passages, the way the hands are done, the way the faces are modelled, the way the drapery is handled."
10. Margaret Schwartz talking to woman
STORYLINE:
New York's biggest auction houses, Christie's and Sotheby's, are to auction priceless works of art by the artists Michaelangelo, Rembrandt, and Donatello next week.
One of the surviving creations of Michelangelo, now worth an estimated 4 (m) million US dollars is an unfinished drawing "of a well-developed male, probably from a naked studio model," William O'Reilly, director of drawings at Christie's auction house, said on Friday.
The 16th century sketch, "Study of a male torso," was to be offered at a Tuesday auction.
Also on Friday, Sotheby's auction house displayed a rediscovered painting by Rembrandt and a sculpture by Donatello - both masterpieces that had been altered and painted over.
Donatello's mid-15th century terra-cotta sculpture of a Madonna and child is "a major piece of art," said Margaret Schwartz, a European art expert at Sotheby's.
Virtually forgotten by scholars, the "Portrait of an Elderly Woman in a White Bonnet" by Rembrandt has not been exhibited publicly since the 1930s.
Both the Donatello - at a pre-auction estimated worth of 4 (m) million US dollars to 6 (m) million US dollars - and the Rembrandt - at a 3 (m) million US dollars to 4 (m) million US dollars estimate - were to be auctioned on Thursday.
Keyword-art auction
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/43c3f0d78d5d0d2cfca4e8e2b77ea973