Frozen River at Sunset, painted by Aert van der Neer in or shortly after 1660

Sotheby’s January 2015 Old Master Week in New York will feature a select group of highly important paintings assembled by noted collector J.E. Safra. The choice offering of 17 paintings presents a wide range of styles and genres of the period including the Dutch Golden Age, as well as 18th century Italian and French. The vast majority of the works have been off the market for at least 20 years and together the group is estimated to bring $22/34 million. The paintings will go on public exhibition, alongside Sotheby’s Old Master Week sales, beginning 24 January. 

Leading a very strong group of Dutch works to be offered in Sotheby’s January 2015 sales is Frozen River at Sunset, painted by Aert van der Neer in or shortly after 1660 (image above), a period that was a high point for Dutch landscape painting and for the artist himself (est. $4/6 million, left). The work embodies the artist’s fascination with the people and the world around him and most notably the effect of light on a winter landscape and how it can transform the content and mood of a composition.