The last time Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Pandora came up for auction, it sold for pounds 1,250 – roughly equivalent to pounds 20,000 today.
How times have changed. The masterpiece is expected to set a record for the artist’s work this week when it goes under the hammer for an estimated £7 million ($12.8 million).
The subject of the painting is Jane Morris, wife of William Morris, the artist and textile designer. With her pale skin and tumbling curls, she was the epitome of Pre-Raphaelite beauty.
They were very radical when they were painting
Jane became Rossetti’s muse, and one of his great loves. They first met in 1857, when Rossetti was engaged to Elizabeth Siddal, and Jane married Morris instead.
Rossetti and Morris were friends and jointly leased a house, Kelmscott Manor in Oxfordshire. A love triangle was born, and Rossetti is said to have developed a romantic relationship with Jane while her husband was travelling.
Dante Gabriel RossettiAn 1858 pen portrait of Jane Burdon (later Jane Morris) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
She was the model for many of his paintings. In addition to Pandora, she is the subject of La Donna Della Fiamma (1870) and Proserpine (1874).
The life-size Pandora, completed in 1871, will be the star lot at Sotheby’s British and Irish Art sale in London on Thursday, when bidding is expected to be frenzied.
“This is certainly the most important Rossetti that has ever been on the market,” said Simon Toll, Sotheby’s British and Irish Art specialist.
“In fact, it is one of the most important Pre-Raphaelite pictures ever to come to market, because most are in museum collections.”
He described the 1.2-metre painting, with some understatement, as having “lots of wall appeal.”
Rossetti founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt in 1848, and the aesthetic movement had its heyday in the decades that followed.
The most important Rossetti that has ever been on the market
Fashions change, however, and when the current owner bought the painting from the Stone Gallery in Newcastle in 1966, there was little demand for such works.
“There were a few collectors, but at that time the Pre-Raphaelites had fallen out of fashion. They were able to pick up these things at country sales,” said Mr Toll.
sothebys.comPainted in 1870, Dante Gabriel Rossetti depicted his muse, Jane Morris, as Pandora, the beautiful Titaness of Greek legend, who unleashed havoc upon the world. The most important Pre-Raphaelite painting to be offered at auction in recent times, ' Pandora' will be offered in Sotheby's British & Irish Art sale on May 22.
He added that the owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, was selling because “he is in his 80s or 90s, he has no children, and he wants to share the work with other people now. It has been out of the limelight for so long.
“It is difficult for people to have these things at home. And Rossetti is doing so well at the moment – he feels that if ever there was a time to sell a Rossetti, it’s now.
“And if ever there was a picture that could make a high price, it’s this one.”
Tate Britain’s blockbuster Pre-Raphaelite exhibition, which ran from 2012-13, has helped to boost prices.
“The exhibition at the Tate has brought people into the market who might not have known who these artists were, or at least are now looking at them in a different way,” said Mr Toll.
“There used to be a perception that the Pre-Raphaelites were frilly and twee. Actually, they were very radical when they were painting.”
Records for Rossettis have tumbled in recent years. Last November, Proserpine sold for £3.27 million ($5.98 million) and A Christmas Carol fetched £4.5 million ($8.22 million) a month later.
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The history of Pandora also has a fascinating link to another artist, LS Lowry, an avid collector of Rossetti.
Lowry plastered his house with the artist’s drawings and said in an interview: “There is no one quite like Rossetti. I don’t care much for his subject pictures, but his women are very wonderful.”
He was president of the Rossetti Society, a select group of art enthusiasts who formed around the Stone Gallery, which was then the pre-eminent source of Pre-Raphaelite works. Admission to the society was open only to owners of a Rossetti, hence membership never passed a dozen.
AP Photo / Sotheby'sAn undated handout photo of Proserpine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
One of the members was the current owner of Pandora.
When works came to the market, members were allowed to bid for them on a rota system. The Stone Gallery acquired Pandora in 1966 and Lowry was desperate to own it.
However, it was not his turn, and the painting went instead to the man now selling it.
Mr Toll said: “The seller was great friends with Lowry. They had a great camaraderie and shared a wicked sense of humour.
“The society was a gentlemen’s club, really, and conversation usually came down to saying, ‘What Rossettis have you got?’”
Lowry later purchased a chalk version of Pandora, which was sold many years after his death for £2.6 million ($4.75 million).
Coincidentally, Sotheby’s is also selling a Lowry. Station Approach, Manchester has not been seen in public since the 1980s and is expected to fetch up to £3 million ($5.48 million).
It depicts rush hour at Manchester Exchange railway station, which has since been demolished. The painting, regarded as one of the most significant of the artist’s works, will feature in the Modern and Post-War British Art sale on June 10.
Frances Christie, the head of Modern and Post-War British Art, said: “These two artists are arguably the best painters of their respective generations and they have a really special link. It is a wonderful opportunity to offer them both for sale.”