Raoul Dufy’s 1906 oil on canvas of the beach at Sainte-Adresse which will feature in Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr’s sale of the collection of Alain Delon with an estimate of €600,000-800,000.
Image credit © Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr
The famous French actor, known for his roles in films such as The Leopard; Rocco and His Brothers; Le Cercle Rouge and Le Samourai, bought his first drawing in London when he was just 24 years old and the 81 lots to be offered by auction reflect the fruits of 60 years of collecting.
It is a wide-ranging ensemble taking in Italian Renaissance drawings, Old Master paintings, works by major artists of the 19th century such as Eugène Delacroix, Jean-François Millet and Camille Corot; animalier bronzes by Jean-Antoine Barye and Georges-Lucien Guyot and 20th century paintings by Albert Gleizes and Raoul Dufy.
Among the highlights of the sale are Delacroix’s painting of an arab horse tied to a stake, an early oil on canvas from 1825 which is guided at €400,000-600,000. There is also a watercolour of an Arab Chief painted in 1832, the year that the artist accompanied the comte de Mornay, ambassador to King Louis-Philippe, to Morocco, which is estimated €50,000-80,000.
Eugène Delacroix’s monogrammed watercolour of an Arab Chief from 1832 to be offered in Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr’s auction of the collection of Alain Delon with an estimate of €50,000-80,000.
Image credit © Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr.
Four works by Millet feature in the auction including Jeunes filles à Barbizon or Paysannes au repos, an oil on canvas of two young women in a rural landscape setting from c.1850, estimated at €200,000-300,000 and a charcoal drawing of a Normandy milkmaid from c.1847-49 estimated at €100,000-150,000.
This c.1850 rural scene by Jean-François Millet - Jeunes filles à Barbizon or Paysannes au repos is estimated at €200,000-300,000 in Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr’s June 22 sale of works from the collection of Alain Delon.
Image credit © Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr.
One of the highlights from the 20th century works is Raoul Dufy’s oil on canvas from 1906 showing the beach at Sainte-Adresse at Le Havre (pcitured above, top), a popular subject for many artists, which has an estimate of €600,000-800,000.
A pen and wash double-sided drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist Domenico Beccafumi depicting Saint Anthony, shown here, and a study of kneeling women to the verso. It has an estimate of €50,000-80,000 in Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr’s sale of the collection of Alain Delon.
Image credit © Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr.
The collection will tour to Brussels, New York, Hong Kong and Geneva before returning to Paris for the auction on June 22.
