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Mastering the Old Masters

Last week’s Old Masters shows in London may not have had anything like last year’s $45 million Canaletto, but it attracted an influx of discriminating collectors (and not just Old Masters heads), drove demand, and pushed low estimates to satisfying new heights.

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The Old Masters Evening Sale at Sotheby's London, July 2026.
The Old Masters Evening Sale at Sotheby's London, July 2026. Photo: Rayan Bamhayan/Courtesy Sotheby's
Marion Maneker
July 8, 2026

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Last week’s Old Masters sales in London lacked any real blockbusters, but the discerning competition at the auctions generated an unmistakable sense of momentum. This year, Sotheby’s and Christie’s presented a similar—though not exactly comparable—mix of property and achieved fairly similar results. Sotheby’s had the larger total, at £62.5 million ($83.4 million), including the single-lot sale of the bronze casting of a classical statue of Laocoön that sold for £13.6 million, or more than $18 million. Over at Christie’s, the total was £52 million, or $69.5 million.

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