He takes over from Benjamin Peronnet who will leave Christie’s in December after 11 years with the company.
Alsteens, who will be based in Paris, spent a decade as curator of drawings and prints at the Met, where he helped the New York institution acquire over 700 drawings. He was also previously curator of the Frits Lugt Collection in Paris.
As well as curating several major exhibitions including, most recently, Van Dyck: The Anatomy of Portraiture at the Frick Collection in New York, Alsteens has also written and published works on Northern European drawings.
Alsteens said: “I am delighted to be taking on such a prominent role in the world of Old Master drawings. The continued strength of the drawings market was clear in the recent sales of the collections of I.Q. van Regteren Altena and Brian Sewell, and I look forward to promoting and widening the field further across the world.”
