Sacred Art

The origin of European painting

Sacred art is the origin of European painting: for centuries the Church was the most important patron, and because pictures had to make whole stories visible as a «Biblia pauperum», central perspective and oil painting were perfected at the altar, not in the studio. With us the field ranges from polychrome figures of saints and late Gothic altar wings to panel paintings, chalices, monstrances and reliquaries. Icons are a field of their own, tempera on wood, often under a silver oklad: a Moscow icon of Saint George fetched CHF 90,000 with us, a Saint Nicholas CHF 36,000. What makes the price is always the same: painting, goldsmith’s work and condition together. And because many of these objects come from churches, monasteries or family collections, the question of provenance is part of the appraisal for us.