cazalea[Seiko Moderator]
17091
I got in trouble at work once, for asking our company's owner how he decided on buying a certain painting (watch/car/etc.)
May 31, 2023,13:30 PM
It seemed like a reasonable question at the time (I was young and naive).
The only problem was the context ... read for yourself:
LONDON (AP) Nov 21, 1986 _ John Constable’s landscape ″Flatford Lock and Mill″ was bought at auction Friday for more than $3.7 million, almost eight times the previous record for a work by the early 19th century English artist.
The London art dealers Agnews said it paid $3,773,160 for the 3- foot-wide oil.
The 1811 work, which depicts a watermill owned by Constable’s father. It was sold by the estate of K. Clark Morris, an American who bought it at an American auction in 1926 where it has been since the 19th century.
Bidding lasted only three minutes in Christie’s saleroom before Agnews’ successful bid, which includes the 10 percent commission to Christie’s and taxes.
Independent Television News said it was bought by Canadian millionaire David Thomson, son of the late newspaper owner Lord Thomson of Fleet.
The previous record for a Constable painting, $497,664, was paid a year ago at Christie’s for a small oil on paper of a sunset in Hampstead, north London. Constable now is ranked second only to J.M.W. Turner in English landscape painting and there hasn’t been a large oil by him on the market since 1951.
Christie’s said ″Flatford Lock and Mill″ had recently been on loan to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The painting had been out of public sight for decades until it reappeared in a Constable exhibition at New York’s Metropolitan Museum in 1983. The painting depicts the artist’s favorite countryside, the lush green fields and trees along the Stour river in Suffolk, eastern England, where he grew up.
David Thomson happened to be visiting our company and he invited questions about any aspect of the business. Since his family had recently bought our company for $120 million, I suppose the Constable was spare change left over from that deal. But to us it seemed astonishing! He did say, "Well you consider what other things you want this year or next, what your existing obligations are, then make up your mind."
We get used to talking here about certain watches which are priced at seemingly atmospheric levels. However, when it comes to opening one's wallet (or the digital equivalent), it does take some soul-searching for some of us.
Cazalea