English artists: top 10 auction results in 2010 [02/04/2011]
Every fortnight Artprice posts a new or updated ranking in its Alternate-Friday Top Series. The topic of today's TOP article is the 10 best auction results generated by English artists in 2010.
While Pablo PICASSO and Alberto GIACOMETTI were the big stars of the London and New York sales in 2010, British artists also generated numerous records in the UK and abroad.
Top 10 : best auctions results in 2010 by English artists
| Rank | Artist | Hammer Price | Artwork | Sale |
| 1 | Joseph Mallord William TURNER | $40 211 100 | Modern Rome - Campo Vaccino | 07/07/10 (Sotheby's London) |
| 2 | Lawrence ALMA-TADEMA | $32 000 000 | The Finding of Moses | 11/04/10 (Sotheby's NY) |
| 3 | George STUBBS | $14 187 600 | Brood Mares and Foals | 12/08/10 (Sotheby's London) |
| 4 | Henry MOORE | $5 104 640 | Reclining figure (1982) | 02/03/ 10 (Sotheby's London) |
| 5 | Peter DOIG | $3 905 500 | Saint Anton (Flat Light) | 02/10/10 (Sotheby's London) |
| 6 | John Robert COZENS | $3 171 840 | The lake of Albano and castel... | 07/14/10 (Sotheby's London) |
| 7 | Damien HIRST | $3 013 210 | I am Become Death,... | 10/14/10 (Christie's London) |
| 8 | Henry MOORE | $2 650 000 | Family Group (1947) | 05/04/20 (Christie's NY) |
| 9 | Henry MOORE | $2 500 000 | Maquette for King and Queen | 11/03/10 (Christie's NY) |
| 10 | Henry MOORE | $2 500 000 | Mother and Child: Block Seat | 11/03/10 (Christie's NY) |
During the Old Masters and English Paintings sale at Sotheby’s in London, Joseph Mallord William TURNER ’s 19th century work Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino pulverised its £12m - £18m estimate, selling for £26.5m ($40.2m). That result gave the “painter of light” his personal auction best and first place in this ranking.
Nineteenth century English painting was much in demand in 2010 as the ranking’s second place is occupied by Lawrence ALMA-TADEMA ’s oil on canvas entitled The Finding of Moses which fetched the splendid result of $32m against a pre-sale estimate of $3m - $5m. This new record seriously belittled the artist’s previous auction record of $2.5m for the same work in 1995 at Christie’s NY. In just fifteen years, the value of The Finding of Moses has multiplied 11 times!
In third place of the ranking, a new record also for George STUBBS whose Brood Mares and Foals fetched £9m ($14.2m). This large work (the third largest of his works ever to be sold at auction) had remained in the same collection since its creation in 1768, and is one of the rare paintings by the artist ever to be offered in a public sale.
19 years after its last appearance at auction, the water-colour The lake of Albano and castel Gandolfo by John Robert COZENS fetched ten times its previous hammer price ($316,776) in 1991 and signed a new record for the artist at £2.1m. We note that in 1991 the record set by The lake of Albano and Castel Gandolfo held for 16 years before being beaten.
Neither Damien HIRST nor Peter DOIG were in the auction market in 1991, but today these two Contemporary artists (the only Contemporaries in the ranking) are in 5th and 7th place of this ranking.
Damien Hirst’s I am become Death, Shatterer of worlds is the biggest painting by the artist ever offered at auction. Fetching £1.9m, under its low pre-sale estimate, made with thousands of butterfly wings, generated Hirst’s best hammer price since the sale of Beautiful Inside My Head Forever in September 2008.
Another very large work, Peter Doig’s Saint Anton (Flat Light) sold for £2.5m last October. This work of more than 7m² found a buyer within its pre-sale estimate range (£2m - £3m).
With more than 11 sculptures selling at over 1m$ in 2010, it is not surprising to find Henry MOORE in four places of our ranking. Over the last 12 months, his price index has increased by 24% and 81% of his sculptures have found buyers. Of these, his Reclining Figure fetched £3.2m (4th place) and his best hammer price since 2008, his Family Group, standing 40cm high (8th place), sold for $2.65m and two other bronzes Mother and Child: Block Seat (9th place) and Maquette for King and Queen (10th place) each sold for the same price ($2.5m) at the same sale.
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