Celebrate The 'Best of British

Alongside prints by leading international artists including Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch and Andy Warhol, Sotheby’s sale will place special emphasis on works which celebrate the ‘Best of British’; exceptional works which depict famous British motifs and by leading British artists. 

‘Best of British’

• A selection of ten etchings by Lucian Freud will lead the ‘Best of British’ works. Highlights include Pluto (est. £100,000 – 150,000), Kai (est. £50,000 – 70,000) and A Couple, a print which Freud gave to his housekeeper, the present owner, in 1982 (est. £12,000 – 15,000). 

• Andy Warhol once said, "I want to be as famous as the Queen of England". The Best of British section features several examples of his prints of Queen Elizabeth II, including a complete set of four screenprints in colours with diamond dust from his 1985 series, Reigning Queens, estimated at £100,000 – 150,000, and a screenprint in a unique combination of colours with an estimate of £40,000 – 60,000.

• A superlative example of Francis Bacon's finest print, Study for a Bullfight No. 1, estimate £30,000 – 50,000.

• Richard Hamilton’s Fashion Plate, an offset lithograph and screenprint in colours, retouched by the artist with cosmetics, estimate £15,000 – 20,000.

• The Grosvenor School artists, featuring Sybil Andrews, one of the school's finest exponents; her Flower Girls is a linocut in colours that have remained fresh since its execution in 1934 (estimate £25,000 – 35,000).

Contemporary Prints

• The sale comprises three exceptional colour prints by Andy Warhol, which appropriate motifs from some of Edvard Munch’s most universally recognised works. Striking, unique and ground-breaking, The Scream (After Munch), Eva Mudocci (After Munch), and Madonna and Self- Portrait with Skeleton’s Arms (After Munch) come to auction from an Important European Collection with a combined estimate of £500,000 – 750,000.

• Andy Warhol’s Car Crash, one of the most powerful, challenging and provocative works made by any artist in the Post-War era. This unique screenprint is estimated at £150,000 – 250,000.

Modern Prints

• Edvard Munch’s woodcut, The Girls on the Bridge, from 1918, estimate £180,000 – 200,000.

• Pablo Picasso’s Buste de Femme d’Apres Cranach Le Jeune, one of the artist’s most important and sought-after printed works, estimate £100,000 – 150,000.

• Marc Chagall features prominently; exuberant in colour and joyous in subject matter is Douze Maquettes de Vitraux pour Jerusalem, After Marc Chagall, the complete set of 12 lithographs printed in colours, estimate of £70,000 – 90,000. 

Old Masters

• Albrecht Dürer’s Saint Jerome in His Study, is one of three master engravings that represent the pinnacle of the artist’s achievement in the medium, dating from 1514 (est. £100,000 – 150,000). 

• The sale will also include a group of Old Master prints from The Collection of Dr. Michael Berolzheimer (1866-1942) formed between 1900 and 1937. The fine and varied selection of prints represents a lifetime’s pursuit that has been preserved for over a century and includes works by artists such as Martin Schongauer and Lucas Cranach the Elder.