Auction 1272 Berlin Auction Post-Sale Review

Bidders were captivated by Wilhelm Brücke's painting “Unter den Linden” boulevard and works by the Impressionists Walter Leistikow and Philipp Franck, as well as a self-portrait by Adolph von Menzel and a vase formerly owned by Princess and later Queen Luise of Prussia.

Offering a view into the heart of pre-industrial Berlin, Wilhelm Brücke's ‘Unter den Linden’ (lot 156) was one of the bidders' favourites in the Berlin auction at Lempertz. The work from the estate of Willy Brandt, former mayor of Berlin and later German Chancellor, achieved the second-highest result of the auction at €63,000. Only the summer painting ‘Strandpromenade von Helgoland’ (lot 232) by the Berlin artist Walter Leistikow, which went to a German private collection for around €65,500, achieved a higher price.
 

The shores of Grunewaldsee, which Leistikow painted as a tranquil, deserted idyll (lot 233), were just as popular as the North Sea island, then as now. This smaller format painting changed hands to the successful bidder for over €40,000. Another important Impressionist of the time, Philipp Franck, found his motifs at Wannsee. The 1910 oil painting ‘Rosengarten’ (lot 211) shows the garden of Cornelie Richter, the daughter of composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. It was sold for over €55,000.

As the most important representative of the Berlin Realists, Adolph von Menzel was also one of the highest priced artists at this auction. His self-portrait drawn in charcoal and chalk (lot 174) clearly exceeded expectations and achieved a good €50,000, five times its estimate.

Sculpture was also in high demand, especially works with references to Berlin. A bust of the great master builder and classicist Karl Friedrich Schinkel, cast after a model by Christian Friedrich Tieck (lot 113), realised €27,700, several times the estimate. The life-size figure ‘Towards the Sun’ (lot 235), with which Hans Hubert Dietzsch-Sachsenhausen personified the nudist culture that emerged after the First World War, achieved an even higher result of €37,800.

A Munich vase was the star item among the porcelain at the Berlin auction. The piece from KPM was once part of the famous Twinight Collection. It bears views of two major works by architect Friedrich Schinkel: ‘The Museum in Berlin’ and ‘The Werder Church in Berlin’. Both buildings were completed in 1830, the year of the vase’s creation. The piece was commissioned by King Friedrich Wilhelm III as a gift for Countess von Reden, the widow of a deserving minister. At €44,100 euros, it realised the highest price among all the porcelain items in the sale.

The legendary Crown Princess and later Queen Luise, who was renowned throughout Europe for her charm and even captivated Napoleon Bonaparte at times, was the former owner of another outstanding piece in the large selection of porcelain. The successful bidder paid just over €16,000 for the rare vase with ‘fleurs en terrasse’ (lot 80).

Jan Bykowski
Press and Public Relations
info@lempertz.com
Tel. 0221 925729 -57