DUBAI: It’s nothing short of a feat to transport Old Master masterpiece painting during normal times, let alone a pandemic that has made what used to be simple plane trip a weary and unpredictable ordeal. Yet Sotheby’s has pulled off the exhibition of two remarkable paintings at its outpost in Dubai: a portrait of “A Young Man Holding a Roundel” by Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli and a miniature work of “Abraham and the Angels” by Dutch Golden Age master Rembrandt van Rijn. The works were exhibited for one day on December 16 ahead of their scheduled auction at Sotheby’s New York in January 2021. Their display further cements the strength of Dubai a growing hub for art and culture.
“It is an extraordinary feat to have travelled these works to Dubai not least because they are climatically sensitive so the planning and the logistics of the traveling exhibition is very complicated,” Edward Gibbs, Chairman of the Middle East and India told Arab News. “It’s a great feat for Sotheby’s and also testament to our relationship with the Ministry of Culture here and our joint efforts to support their endeavors to build Dubai and Abu Dhabi as a global and cultural artistic hub.”
In October 2018, Sotheby’s similarly unveiled a rare oil sketch portrait by Rembrandt in Dubai, which was acquired on behalf of the Louvre Abu Dhabi for their permanent collection.
“These paintings in particular are emblematic of the very best that Sotheby’s has to offer in the field of Old Masters,” continued Gibbs. “Portraits by Botticelli are incredibly rare. There are probably only around 10 or 12 that have survived and all the others are in captivity in major institutions and this is the last one that is in private hands so that’s a landmark event in the Old Master commercial field.”
The portrait, executed circa 1490, which has an estimate in excess of $80 million, marks one of the most significant portraits of any period to be offered at auction.
The work is also indicative of the cultural transformation of the Renaissance period. It was during the early Renaissance (late 14th to early 15th century) that portraits of notable individuals first came be considered high art and Botticelli led the way in this artistic shift. This was decades before Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa between 1503 and 1506.
While the Rembrandt painting, notes Gibbs, is largely a different work in form and substance, it shares with the Botticelli work “an immediacy and an intimacy.”
“This is one of the reasons why these works resonate so strongly with a contemporary audience is that they have a very modern feel to them,” he adds, “Particularly the Botticelli that was painted 540 years ago but the sitter looks like he could have stepped out of a nightclub in Dubai. He’s a very good-looking and cosmopolitan man about town.”
The identity of the man is unknown. However, there are some clues as to his whereabouts. The little roundel that he carries with the saint could refer to his name. “Maybe its Peter or Pietro in Italian or John or Giovanni,” explains Gibbs as often Italians would be named after one of the Catholic saints. “We don’t know for sure but he was almost certainly part of this intellectual milieu at the Medici court in Florence at the very height of the Italian Renaissance.”
Furthermore, Botticelli’s painting is the embodiment of the Florentine Renaissance that in turn is the embodiment of the Italian Renaissance, continued Gibbs.
The painting’s display in the UAE also marks a turning point in the art and culture scene of the country. “It is a truly iconic and revolutionary work which prefigures the future and the beginning of Western portraiture. Its influence extends right up to the present day to the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe and Annie Leibovitz. It is appropriate that a painting that embodies the European Renaissance should be shown here in the UAE at the time of the Emirati Renaissance.”
The Rembrandt painting, which measures just 16 x 21 cm in size, is gem-like in vision and quality. It is one of the rarest Rembrandt’s to ever be offered at auction, with the last work by the Dutch master appearing at auction in London in 1848, which is sold for £64. It now returns with an estimate of $20-30 million.
The painting is one of a total of 136 biblical paintings that Rembrandt produced, with the one offered by Sotheby’s one of only five remaining in private hands. The rest are in the collections of museums and institutions worldwide.
The painting, which will most likely be surprising to many, has a link to the South Asian region. “The Rembrandt is fascinating because it shows how the great Dutch master was interested in and studying Moghul [Indian] miniatures,” explains. “This was a chapter in Rembrandt’s career which has been recently examined and was showcased at the Getty Museum (in Los Angeles).”
During Rembrandt’s life there were Moghul miniatures in circulation in Amsterdam brought back by members of the Dutch East India Company. “We know for sure that Rembrandt was looking at these and you can see references in this painting of Abraham,” said Gibbs.
The exhibition of both works, which will go on sale at Sotheby’s auction in New York in January 2021, defy the odds for their display during such a continually challenging time and for their subject matter, that further emphasizes the UAE’s commitment to art and culture across the ages.
