Rediscovered Kensett painting soars at auction

14 April 2011

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John F. Kensett - The Beach At Beverly, Ma

A rediscovered work by John Federick Kensett (American, 1816–1872), "Study for 'View of the Beach at Beverly, Massachusetts,'" fetched $310,500 (with 15% buyer's premium), ten times the low estimate of $30,000, at Eldred's Americana sale on Cape Cod.

From a private estate, the highly-contested 9 by 14-inch painting by the Hudson River School master will be included in the forthcoming Kensett catalogue raisonné.

It is a finished oil study for Kensett's masterpiece "The Beach At Beverly, Mass.," 1860, (Santa Barbara Museum of Art), according to the East Dennis, Mass., auction house.

Eldred's stated in a presale release, "The composition is a quintessential example of Kensett's coastal work. Its softly curving shoreline gives way to imposing rock formations before leading the viewer's gaze over an expansive sea."

The auction record for Kensett's work is $1.2 million for "Entrance to Newport Harbor" which sold at Christie's in 2005, according to Askart.com. One of his Beverly, Mass., coastal scenes brought $988,000 in 2004 at Sotheby's.

Read more at Antiques and the Arts

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