landmarks to 1959

This page highlights some landmarks in the sale of old master paintings, stamps, manuscripts, furniture and other collectibles.

It covers -

• pre-1849
• 1850 -
• 1900 -
• 1930 -
• 1950 -

Context is provided by the broader communications, information technology and media timeline on this site.

Figures are in historic rather than contemporary dollars and pounds. Indication of value are provided in the calculators highlighted elsewhere on this site. Using some measures Augustus III's payment for a Raphael in 1754 might for example be the equivalent of US$1.3 billion.

Robert Hughes cautioned that such

figures are very impressionistic: converting art prices between sterling and dollars across a time-gap of 200 years is fraught with wild variables and may be no more accurate than the effort to convert wampum to lire.

     pre-1849

1650

Raphael painting - £2,000

1754

Sistine Madonna by Raphael - £8,500

1762

George III buys 53 Canaletto paintings and 140 drawings by Giovanni Antonio Canal aka 'Canaletto' (1697-1768) for £20,000

1799

Landing of Aeneas and The Sacrifice to Apollo by Claude Lorraine - £6,825 (William Beckford)

1812

Christ Healing the Sick by Benjamin West - £3,150

1813

The Lacemaker by Jan Vermeer - £7

1841

Seascape, Folkestone (1840) by Joseph Mallord William Turner - 250 guineas

Giudecca, La Donna della Salute & San Giorgio by Turner - 250 guineas

     1850

1853

live Canary - US$25

1860

The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple (1860) by William Holman Hunt - £5,500

1863

Seascape, Folkestone (1840) by Turner - 1,650 guineas

1864

Shakespeare First Folio - £716 (Baroness Burdett-Coutt)

1870

The Lacemaker by Vermeer - £51

1874

Nativity by Piero della Francesca - £2,500

1875

The Grand Canal by William Mallord Turner - £7,350

The Gross Clinic (1875) by Thomas Eakins - US$200

1876

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (1787) by Gainsborough - £10,100

1879

Madonna of the Rocks (1508) by Leonardo da Vinci - £9,000

1881

Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid by Vermeer - 60,000 Francs

1882

Babylonian Marriage Market (1875) by Edwin Long - £7,350

1886

Chant d'amour (1868) by Edward Burne-Jones - £3,307

1887

Young Woman With a Water Pitcher (1662) by Vermeer - US$800

Highland Raid by Rosa Bonheur - £4,059

1894

The Presentation in the Temple by Giotto - US$7,500

1895

Death of Lucretia by Sandro Botticelli - US$15,000

Poe's Tamerlane - US$1,450

1896

Rape of Europa by Titian - US$21,000

1897

Seascape, Folkestone (1840) by Turner - 6,800 guineas

Giudecca, La Donna della Salute & San Giorgio by Turner - 6,800 guineas

1898

Romans d’amour et de la jeunesse (1771) by Jean-Honore Fragonard - US$0.35m

Bindo Altoviti bust by Benvenuto Cellini - US$50,000

Love and the Pilgrim (1896) by Burne-Jones - £5,775

1899

Madonna of the Eucharist by Botticelli - US$65,000

     1900

1901

Cockerel Egg (1900) by Faberge - 6,500 rubles

Colonna Madonna by Raphael - U$0.4m

1902

The Adoration of God the Father tapestry - US$0.5m

1904

The Finding of Moses (1904) by Alma-Tadema - £5,250

1906

Audubon Birds and Quadrupeds - US$4,350

Caxton Morte D'Arthur - US$42,800

1907

Madonna & Child with Bird in Hand by Perugino - US$10,000

The Kiss by Rodin - £1,000

1909

US government repeals 20% import duty on art

1911

Bay Tree Egg (1911) by Faberge - 12,800 rubles

1913

David by Donatello - US$3m

1914

Small Cowper Madonna by Raphael - US$0.56m

1919

Shakespeare's Venus & Adonis (1599) - £15,100

Poe's Tamerlane - US$11,600

La Lecture de Molière (1730) by Jean Francois de Troy - 5,000 guineas

     1920

1920

Men of the Docks (1912) by George Bellows - US$2,500

1921

The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough - US$0.72m

1924

Self Portrait by Anthony van Dyck - US$0.13m

1926

Don Manuel Osorio de Zuniga by Francisco de Goya - US$0.27m

1927

Portrait of Mrs Davenport by George Romney - £360,900

manuscript of Wagner's Das Rheingold - US$15,400

Madonna & Child by Carlo Crivelli - US$0.23m

1928

Francesco Sassetto by Domenico Ghirlandaio - US$350,000

Harvest Wagon by Gainsborough - US$360,000

1929

Luttrell Psalter - £31,500

Portrait of a Girl Wearing a Gold-Trimmed Cloak (1632) by Rembrandt - US$125,000

     1930

1930

Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer (1653) by Rembrandt van Rijn - US$500,000

Chant d'amour (1868) by Burne-Jones - £620

1931

Alba Madonna - US$920,000

La Rue de Berne by Manet - US$64,000

1933

Codex Sinaiticus - £100,000

Tickhill Psalter - US$61,000

Love and the Pilgrim (1896) by Burne-Jones - £210

1935

The Finding of Moses (1904) by Alma-Tadema - £861

1936

Pumpkin with a Stable Lad (1774) by George Stubbs - US$5,000

1937

The Supper at Emmaus (1937) by van Meegeren - 520,000 guilders

     1940

1941

La rêve (1932) by Picasso - US$7,000

1942

Curtiss JN-4 'Jenny' (1918) stamp - US$1,750

1945

Te Poipoi (1892) by Gauguin - US$33,000

1947

Bay Psalm Book - US$151,000 (Rosenbach)

Landing of Aeneas and Sacrifice to Apollo by Lorraine - £5,300

Irises (1889) by van Gogh - US$80,000 (Whitney)

Gutenberg Bible - £22,000

Arlequin (Buste) (1909) by Picasso - US$12,000.

1949

Lincoln's final draft of the Gettysburg Address - US$54,000

     1950

1950

Garçon à la pipe (1905) by Picasso - US$30,000

1952

Inspeximus version of Magna Carta - £12,500 (Australian government)

Highland Raid by Rosa Bonheur - £200

1954

The Bar (1954) by John Brack - 90 guineas

Kelch 'Easter Egg' (1898) by Faberge - US$15,225

1956

Adoration of the Shepherds by Nicolas Poussin - £29,000

1957

Les Usines à Clichy by Vincent van Gogh - £31,000

Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek by Rubens - US$92,400

Christ Healing the Blind by El Greco - US$105,840

1958

Jardin Public à Arles by van Gogh - £132,000

Le Garçon au Gilet Rouge by Paul Cézanne - £220,00 (Paul Mellon)

Still Life with Apples (1894) by Cézanne - US$252,000

La Rue de Berne by Manet - US$316,400

La Pensée by Renoir - US$201,600

1959

Adoration of the Magi by Rubens - US$770,000

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