Spanish sleeper at Sotheby’s
Working within the orbit of Caravaggio and an influence on the young Velazquez, the Baroque painter Juan Bautista Maíno is cited as one of the more important Spanish artists of the early 17th century. In 2009, the Prado Museum devoted an exhibition to him and his contemporaries. Had it been focused solely on him it would have been small; only 40 paintings by Maino are known and details of his life as a Dominican monk are hard to find.
On the art market only six works have sold at auction in the last 40 years according to the Blouin Art Sales Index. But last week, the venerable Old Master dealership, Colnaghi, thought they spotted one (a “sleeper”) in a small sale at Sotheby’s.
Since it merged three years ago with Spanish art specialists Jorge Coll and Nicolás Cortés, Colnaghi has become a force to be reckoned with. The Sotheby’s painting of Saints James the Great and Teresa of Avila with a Spanish coat of arms was catalogued as Madrid School and estimated at £20,000. At least one other bidder had spotted potential and it rose to almost £200,000 before Colnaghi bought it – a record for the artist at auction.