Rubens' Salome to be auctioned at Sotheby's New York

Peter Paul Rubens' 'Salome with the Head of John the Baptist', painted in 1609, will be auctioned at Sotheby's New York in January 2023 as part of the Master's Week Auctions. The painting, estimated at $25-35 million, comes from the Fisch Davidson collection, the largest private collection of Baroque masterpieces assembled in modern times. Believed lost, it was rediscovered in 1998. The sale includes ten works from the collection of Mark Fisch and Rachael Davidson, featuring pieces by Orazio Gentileschi (estimated $4-6 million), Cavallino ($2.5-3.5 million), Guercino ($1.5-2 million), and Giulio Cesare Procaccini ($1-1.5 million). The pre-sale estimate for the entire collection is around $60 million. Mark Fisch, a collector and philanthropist, served on the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was a friend of Lucian Freud, often lending works for study. George Wachter, Chairman of Sotheby's and Co-Worldwide Head of Old Master Paintings, described the Rubens as the 'inimitable jewel' of the collection, embodying the essence of the Baroque.