Skip to content
Beethoven bronzes

Bourdelle’s suite of 12 Beethoven bronzes tops $343K at Freeman’s

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
Beethoven bronzes
Antoine Bourdelle (French, 1861-1929), ‘Beethoven à Deux Mains,’ bronze, 21in high. Sold for $93,750. Freeman’s image

PHILADELPHIA – Freeman’s single-owner sale of Variations on a Theme: 12 Bronzes of Ludwig van Beethoven by prolific French sculptor Antoine Bourdelle achieved $343,400 on Oct. 21. The 12-lot sale achieved a sell-through rate of 100% and soared past its presale high estimate. Absentee and Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.

After competitive bidding online and over the phone from the U.S. and France, all 12 fresh-to-market lots from Robert Becker’s impressive New York collection were sold to a single private collector who was actively seeking the collective works.

Beethoven bronzes
Antoine Bourdelle, ‘Beethoven dit Métropolitain,’ 41 in high. Sold for $56,250. Freeman’s image

Leading the sale was Beethoven à Deux Mains (Lot 9), which achieved $93,750, exceeding its low estimate; followed by Beethoven dit Métropolitain (Lot 7) which realized $56,250, nearly doubling its high estimate. Lot 5, Beethoven aux Grands Cheveux (Étude Pleine) also performed well, selling for $43,750 and more than doubling its low estimate. Other impressive examples included Lot 6, Beethoven, Étude pour un Masque Disparu, which exceeded its high estimate with $30,000 and La Pathétique (Lot 12) which more than tripled its estimate of $5,000-8,000 to achieve $27,500.

Beethoven bronzes
Antoine Bourdelle, ‘Beethoven aux Grands Cheveux (Étude Pleine),’ bronze, 19½in high. Sold for $43,750. Freeman’s image

“The strong results of today’s sale are testament to Freeman’s unique ability to market single-owner collections with strong narratives to a wide range of collectors. We are delighted with the results and very happy to learn that all 12 bronzes will remain together in the same collection,” said Freeman’s Raphaël Chatroux, who headed the sale.

[av_button label=’View the fully illustrated catalog with prices realized.’ icon_select=’no’ icon=’ue800′ font=’entypo-fontello’ link=’manually,https://www.liveauctioneers.com/catalog/179935_12-bronzes-of-beethoven-by-antoine-bourdelle/’ link_target=’_blank’ size=’small’ position=’center’ label_display=” title_attr=” color_options=” color=’theme-color’ custom_bg=’#444444′ custom_font=’#ffffff’ btn_color_bg=’theme-color’ btn_custom_bg=’#444444′ btn_color_bg_hover=’theme-color-highlight’ btn_custom_bg_hover=’#444444′ btn_color_font=’theme-color’ btn_custom_font=’#ffffff’ id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-7jyenz6′ admin_preview_bg=”]

 

View top auction results on LiveAuctioneers here: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/pages/recent-auction-sales/