Whippet Dog Etching By Lucian Freud Sold for $146,411

Pluto Aged Twelve, a whippet dog by Lucian Freud (British, 1922-2011). Sold for $146,411. Image courtesy of Bonhams

AUCTION RESULTS

Etching of a Whippet Dog by Lucian Freud Tops Bonhams Prints and Multiples Sale

LONDON— Wednesday, Bonhams Prints and Multiples sale presented art collectors and art lovers the opportunity to own works by some of the Western world’s greatest artists at accessible prices. Artworks by Old Masters to Contemporary giants were represented in the sale at the company’s headquarters in London.

After intense bidding by art collectors from within and outside Bonhams headquarters, the top lot was an etching of a whippet dog by the great 20th-century artist Lucian Freud. Titled Pluto Aged Twelve, the etching estimated at $86,000 – 120,000 sold for $146,411. Produced in 2000, the work was exhibited at London’s National Portrait Gallery in the seminal exhibition – Lucian Freud Portraits in May 2012.

In addition to Whippet dog by Lucian Freud, Sybil Andrews’ dynamic 1934 linocut of horses racing also made a significant outing, achieving the second highest price as a bidder in the saleroom secured the lot for $75,093.

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Dante Alighieri: La Divine Comédie, a series of 100 engraved works by Salvador Dali (1904-1989), and signed and inscribed in color crayon, sold for $ 68,657. They were published by Les Heures Claires, Paris and date from 1960-64. Before the auction, it was estimated at $69,000 – 100,000.

Old Master greats, Albrecht Dürer (German 1471-1528) and J.W.M. Turner (British, 1775-1851) achieved outstanding results: Dürer’s 1514 engraving, St Jerome in his study sold for $ 55,783against £6,000-£8,000 estimates while a fantastic collection of 71 etchings with mezzotint by J.W.M Turner, published between 1807 and 1819 and designed to educate future artists, realised US$ 47,201.

Other notable lots included a screenprint by Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987) titled Apple, from Ads which sold for US$ 38,619and an aquatint by David Hockney (British, born 1937) named Kaisarion and All His Beauty (executed 1961) which near doubled its pre-sale estimate to sell for US$ 22,528.