Joseph Wolf
120 original drawings of animals
Found at
Sothebys,
London
The Library of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven Part I, Lot 242
6. May - 18. May 2022
The Library of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven Part I, Lot 242
6. May - 18. May 2022
Estimate: 30.000 - 50.000 GBP
Price realised: 119.700 GBP
Price realised: 119.700 GBP
Description
Joseph Wolf
Animal drawings. [no dates]
120 original drawings mounted on card, up to 9 on a page, watercolour, ink, some charcoal and pencil sketches, loose in 2 contemporary book-style half morocco boxes, spotting, boxes bumped at extremities with upper joints cracked
AN EXCEPTIONAL COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE FATHER OF WILDLIFE ART.
Joseph Wolf was born in Mörz near Coblenz in Germany. He had an early interest in ornithology and would spend hours watching and drawing birds when a child. He was apprenticed for three years to the Brothers Becker, lithographers of Coblenz, and subsequently became a lithographer at Darmstadt. Shortly afterwards Wolf went to Antwerp in search of practical instruction in drawing, where he mainly painted ornithological studies. In 1848 he left Germany for London, where he obtained employment at the British Museum.
Wolf drew for a very large number of publications on natural history, two of the most important being John Gould's Birds of Great Britain and Birds of Asia, and he also worked for the Royal Zoological Society. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1849 and 1877 and at the Royal Institution in 1874. Many of his drawings of birds and animals are in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Animal drawings. [no dates]
120 original drawings mounted on card, up to 9 on a page, watercolour, ink, some charcoal and pencil sketches, loose in 2 contemporary book-style half morocco boxes, spotting, boxes bumped at extremities with upper joints cracked
AN EXCEPTIONAL COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE FATHER OF WILDLIFE ART.
Joseph Wolf was born in Mörz near Coblenz in Germany. He had an early interest in ornithology and would spend hours watching and drawing birds when a child. He was apprenticed for three years to the Brothers Becker, lithographers of Coblenz, and subsequently became a lithographer at Darmstadt. Shortly afterwards Wolf went to Antwerp in search of practical instruction in drawing, where he mainly painted ornithological studies. In 1848 he left Germany for London, where he obtained employment at the British Museum.
Wolf drew for a very large number of publications on natural history, two of the most important being John Gould's Birds of Great Britain and Birds of Asia, and he also worked for the Royal Zoological Society. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1849 and 1877 and at the Royal Institution in 1874. Many of his drawings of birds and animals are in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
A top price for Joseph Wolf
This artwork by Joseph Wolf achieved an unexpectedly high price at Sothebys in London in May last year. In the The Library of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven Part I auction, the work 120 original drawings of animals sold for GBP 119,700.00 (€ 140,815.66) - well above the upper estimate of GBP 50,000.00. This high result makes 120 original drawings of animals the most expensive artwork by Joseph Wolf that we have observed at auctions so far.
Ein Spitzenpreis für Joseph Wolf
Dieses Kunstwerk von Joseph Wolf erzielte im Mai letzten Jahres bei Sothebys in London einen unerwartet hohen Preis. In der Auktion The Library of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven Part I wurde die Arbeit 120 original drawings of animals für GBP 119.700,00 (€ 140.815,66) versteigert – und damit weit über dem oberen Schätzpreis von GBP 50.000,00. Dieses hohe Ergebnis macht 120 original drawings of animals zu dem teuersten Kunstwerk von Joseph Wolf, das wir bisher bei Auktionen beobachtet haben.
Joseph Wolf - Auction history
![Joseph Wolf - Zoological Sketches, [1856-] 1861-1867, 2 volumes of loose plates in red morocco-backed boxes](/images/joseph-wolf_zoological-sketches-1856-1861-1867-2-volumes-of-loose-plates-in-red-morocco-backed-boxes_AID711717_320x320.jpg)
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