Mattia Preti Leads Sotheby’s $10.8m Diane A. Nixon Sale

Diane A. Nixon, who was known as or Dee Nixon, assembled one of the most important private collection of Old Master drawings in the US, highlights of which were shown at New York's Morgan Library and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. She died in 2024, aged 89.

A work by Mattia Preti was the headline sale at Sotheby's 'Master Drawings from the Collection of Diane A. Nixon' auction on February 4 in New York.

• The sale totaled $10.8m, exceeding the pre-sale high estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 118 works sold totaling $10.8m.
• Estimates totaled: $5.22m (low) and $7.68m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 94% of the original 126 lots announced.

The star lot was: Mattia Preti, Recto: Study for the Figure of Adrian Fortescue Verso: Study for the Figure of Juan d'Eguaras (Undated), which sold for $1.76m, 778% above its $200,000 low estimate. It has been traded 3 times in the past.

The outperformer sold for 852% above its low estimate. Carel Fabritius, Christ and The Woman of Samaria (Undated), sold for $762,000 ($80,000 low estimate). It has changed hands several times in the past.

• 69 works, or 58%, sold above their high estimate.
• 29 works, or 25%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 20 works, or 17%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

No sales had a guarantee.

Works that did not sell

8 works were bought-in, including: Baccio Della Porta, A Fortified Hill Town (Undated), estimated at $400,000 (low) to $600,000 (high). It has been traded 14 times in the past.

Withdrawn before the sale

0 works were withdrawn

Terms and definitions

All results include the fees and premiums added to the price of a work of art when the auctioneer's hammer falls. Sale prices are compared to the auction house’s low estimate, which do not include premiums.

Guarantees: Sometimes an auction house guarantees to pay a seller for a work, regardless of whether the bidding reaches the reserve price, a figure that is typically confidential.

Bought-in: If there are no bids for a work, or if bidding falls short of the reserve price, the lot is unsold or “bought-in”.

Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.

Premiums: Typically a sliding-scale of charges paid in addition to the hammer price by the buyer, plus any other fees.