Dalí Watercolor Leads Alcalá Subastas Autumn Sale in Madrid

Key facts

• Alcalá Subastas will hold its autumn auction in Madrid, featuring Old Master, turn-of-the-century, contemporary art, decorative arts, and jewellery.
• The top lot is Salvador Dalí's Estudio para la Divina Comedia (1952), a signed watercolor on paper, 43 x 32.5 cm.
• The Dalí watercolor was created for the Italian government's 1949 commission to illustrate Dante's Divine Comedy and was not included in the final series of 100 watercolors published in France.
• The Dalí work was exhibited in the 1983 retrospective 400 obras de Salvador Dalí de 1914 a 1983 in Madrid and Barcelona and is catalogued in the exhibition publication (1983, p. 202, no. 358).
• A 17th-century Spanish School Retrato de niña con abanico (1638–1641), oil on canvas, 162 x 105 cm, possibly by Andrés López Polanco, has remained in the same family since the 17th century.
• Luis de Morales and workshop's San Jerónimo (c. 1570), oil on panel, 76.5 x 54.5 cm, relates to versions in the Catedral de Badajoz and the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.
• Mariano Salvador Maella's Inmaculada Concepción (c. 1782), oil on canvas, 176 x 128 cm, was shown in Pulchra Magistri (Castellón, 2013–2014) and acquired at Subastas Fernando Durán in 1995 (lot 255).
• The auction will be held in person and streamed online, with bidding available in the room, by phone, in writing, or live via the website.