A painting by Italian Baroque master Guido Reni has broken the artist's auction record, selling for €12.39 million including fees at an Artcurial auction in Paris on Tuesday, November 25. The early 17th-century oil-on-canvas work titled "David and Goliath" far exceeded its pre-sale estimate of €2-4 million and was purchased by a private European collector.
This sale represents a dramatic increase from Reni's previous auction record, which was set in 2008 when "The Martyrdom of Saint Apollonia," an oil-on-copper painting, sold for €1.8 million at Sotheby's London. Interestingly, that same work later sold for only €819,000 at a Christie's New York auction in 2022, highlighting the volatile nature of the art market.
Guido Reni (1575-1642), a Bolognese artist who was once a leading figure in early 17th-century Rome, has experienced a remarkable revival in reputation. During his lifetime, his patrons included the influential Borghese family, but modernist critics later dismissed his work, particularly his upward-gazing Madonnas, as being close to kitsch. However, 21st-century scholars have shown renewed interest in his subtlety and technical skill, leading to major museum exhibitions that have rehabilitated his artistic standing.
The "David and Goliath" painting that achieved this record-breaking sale has been the subject of considerable scholarly debate in recent years. There are approximately six known versions of this work, each varying in composition, execution, and attribution. As Corentin Dury, curator for the Old Masters collection at the Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans, explains, "Reni loved the pleasure of variation." The Orléans museum owns what is now considered by many experts to be the earliest authenticated version of the painting.
The attribution and importance of different versions have shifted over time based on new scholarly analysis. Until recently, a version held in the Louvre's collection was considered the most significant. However, according to Dury, detailed analysis and comparisons with a drawing held in a UK collection have led to a change of scholarly opinion. The record-setting painting sold at Artcurial was previously known but had been dismissed as merely a later copy.
Eric Turquin of Cabinet Eric Turquin, a France-based Old Masters appraisal firm that helped bring the work to auction, disagrees with Dury's assessment. Turquin argues that his firm was responsible for discovering the painting's true significance after investigating it earlier this year when it was hanging in a castle in western France. He also disputes Dury's opinion regarding the relative importance of the Orléans museum's version, which shows David staring directly into the severed head of the defeated giant Goliath.
The compositional differences between versions are notable. While the Orléans version shows Goliath's head facing forward, both the Louvre version and the Artcurial version that sold for the record price show Goliath's head turned in the opposite direction. Turquin, who attended the Monday auction, believes that the Louvre and Artcurial versions were likely created together as companion pieces.
Turquin expresses complete confidence in the significance of the record-breaking work, stating that this importance "explains the price." The dramatic sale reflects not only the renewed scholarly and market interest in Reni's work but also the ongoing debates about attribution and artistic significance that continue to shape the Old Masters market. This record-setting auction demonstrates how scholarly reassessment can dramatically impact the commercial value of historical artworks, transforming a previously dismissed "copy" into a multi-million-euro masterpiece.
