Some experts singled out “The Sacrifice of Iphigenia,” a 1671 mythological scene by the Dutch master Jan Steen, as the finest painting in the fair. Dickinson, the London dealer, sold it late Friday afternoon on behalf of descendants of Jacques Goudstikker, a prominent Dutch dealer who fled Amsterdam in 1940, leaving behind works that his heirs recouped only two years ago. The asking price was $12.3 million.
Johnny Van Haeften, the London dealer, was offering a haunting portrait, from about 1630, by the Dutch artist Jan Lievens of an old man in a fur-lined coat holding a skull. Mr. Van Haeften bought the painting at Christie’s in London only three months ago for $4.3 million, but is asking $7.2 million for it now.
The Manhattan dealer Richard Feigen said that his booth was doing good business because the prices of old masters remained reasonable. He said he already had a buyer for “Christ on the Cross,” an 8-inch-by-6-inch Rubens once owned by David Bowie and now priced around $1 million.
The hope of surprising discoveries is always a big lure for curators and collectors. This year there was much talk about a full-size “Drunkenness of Noah,” a replica of one of the scenes from Genesis that Michelangelo painted on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The work, an oil on canvas, measuring about 6 feet by 8 feet, is thought to have been based on a lost cartoon by Michelangelo for the fresco. Arnoldi-Livie, the Munich dealer offering the painting, said the artist is believed to have been Jacopo da Pontormo. Elizabeth Pilliod, a Renaissance art historian from Princeton, N.J., suggested that the cartoon was a gift from Michelangelo to the papal banker Bindo Altoviti, who is said to have commissioned Pontormo to make the copy around 1540.
Modern art was plentiful, too. During the last few years the show’s organizers have tried to strengthen the modern and contemporary selection to compete with Art Basel in Switzerland, which is held every June. At Mr. Nagy’s booth, for instance, there were examples of German Expressionist artists who have been all the rage recently. Among the stars were “Woman From Pozzuoli,” a 1925 portrait by Christian Schad priced at $3 million, and an Egon Schiele watercolor “The Dancer Moa,” offered for $4.5 million.
