Autumn 2019
The Young Woman Reading, painted in 1880, was sold for £6,315,062 ($7,711,790) including premium. It had an estimated price of £600,000-800,000.
Osman Hamdi was a remarkable figure who combined his life as an artist with a career as a public administrator in the Ottoman bureaucracy, an archaeologist and – as Director of the Imperial Museum, and Founder of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum – a pioneer of the profession of museum curator in Turkey. He also founded the Istanbul Museum of Fine Arts.
Trained initially as a lawyer, Hamdi embraced painting while completing his law studies in Paris in 1860. He studied painting under the great French orientalists Jean-Léon Gérôme and Gustave Boulanger. He exhibited at the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle and continued to paint throughout his life despite his many public duties.
Hamdi’s paintings reflect his years of study with Gérôme and Boulanger, but as the leading travel writer and authority on the Muslim world Barnaby Rogerson writes in the current edition of Bonhams Magazine: “In his works, he was not throwing together random picturesque objects, but composing a loving tribute to his homeland which for centuries had created dazzling ceramics, textiles, buildings, carpets, gardens and texts that his paintings assembled.”
Bonhams’ Head of 19th Century Art, Charles O’Brien added: “Young Woman Reading is a wonderfully serene and enigmatic work that has been in the same family for the past 45 years. Paintings by Osman Hamdi are rare at auction, and this picture’s appearance in our September sale generated a great deal of interest among collectors.”
The sale also featured three works by the leading Austrian orientalist painter Ludwig Deutsch. His The Goza Smoker was sold for £1,143,062 including premium (estimate: £120,000-180,000).
-
Art Dubai moved to new dates, new location
Wed, Feb 17, 2021 -
Sacha Jafri sets Guinness record for ‘Largest Art Canvas’
Mon, Feb 15, 2021 -
Louvre Abu Dhabi new season features 101 masterpieces
Wed, Feb 3, 2021 -
Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale nets $44.5m
Mon, Dec 14, 2020 -
The Lion Roars
Autumn 2020 -
Being with Beirut
Autumn 2020 -
Sales Go On, Online
Autumn 2020 -
Lewis masterpiece leads auction
Sun, Nov 15, 2020 -
The Lion roars at Bonhams sale
Sun, Nov 1, 2020 -
Timeless GCC specials in Christie’s Dubai Edit
Wed, Oct 14, 2020 -
Jewels of Maharani to lead Bonhams sale
Tue, Oct 13, 2020 -
Rare historic gold coin set for auction
Tue, Oct 6, 2020 -
Artist Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim to represent UAE
Tue, Sep 29, 2020 -
Christie’s Mideast season moves online; 4 sales planned
Wed, Sep 9, 2020 -
Art for Beirut - Christie's charity auction
Mon, Aug 17, 2020