Sir Peter Paul Rubens’ Salome presented with the severed head of Saint John the Baptist is estimated at $25m-35m at Sotheby's New York.
The collection is from real estate developer Mark Fisch and US judge Rachel Davidson, who filed for divorce earlier this year.
The pictures, known as the Fisch Davidson collection, were purchased over three decades by the couple.
Focused on Baroque art 1600-50, the collection comprises some of the “very finest paintings in private hands” according to Sotheby’s, including works by artists Guercino, Bernardo Cavallino, Valentin de Boulogne, Orazio Gentileschi and Sir Peter Paul Rubens.
The 10 works will headline Sotheby’s Master’s Week Auctions.
The highlight is Rubens’ Salome presented with the severed head of Saint John the Baptist which was previously believed to have been lost prior to its rediscovery in 1998. It has an estimate of $25m-35m.
It was painted at the same time as Rubens’ Massacre of the Innocents (which sold at Sotheby’s in 2002).
Works from the sale, titled Baroque: Masterpieces from the Fisch Davidson Collection, will be on public view in New York between November 4-13 and highlights will travel to Los Angeles, Hong Kong and London this autumn, before returning for a pre-sale exhibition in New York in January.
