Christie's is to hold a dedicated auction entitled Albrecht Durer: Masterpieces from a Private Collection on January 29 in New York, which will be led by the German artist's Saint Eustace.
 Durer's work shows Saint Eustace, patron saint of huntsmen, at the moment that he found God |
Considered one of his finest works, Saint Eustace has not yet been given an estimated value. It was last sold in Christie's Old Master Prints from Chatsworth auction in 1985 for £190,000 ($305,320).
One of the most recent pieces of art consigned to auction from the collection at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire was Raphael's Head of a Young Apostle, which brought $47.8m in December 2012 to become the most valuable old master drawing ever sold at auction.
With Durer regarded as perhaps the finest artist of the Northern Renaissance, the present auction could also see some record-breaking sales. Saint Eustace, engraved circa 1501, is the largest of all his works, which the artist himself considered his "show-piece".
The impression offered is a superb, early Meder b example which, according to Christie's "compares well with the two outstanding examples in the British Museum… and prints with unsurpassable subtlety and definition."
The piece will be followed by Durer's Knight Death and the Devil, which is estimated to sell for $500,000-700,000. Engraved in 1513, the lot is a Meder a-b impression and aside from touches of pen and ink, is generally in very good condition.
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