The common denominator on the 18th of April was not a painter but a genre, the portrait genre, which found the greatest acceptence among bidders. It was to be expected, the firm had gathered a formidable selection on the subject. New winds are blowing and the old stigma of hanging somebody else's great grand mother in your living room seems to have vanished. But as collectors have often refuted: "the Monna Lisa was also somebody else's is grandmother in the distant past". 

The highest price went to Giuliano Bugiaurdini, one of the most outstanding figures of the genre in sixteenth century Florence. The oil on canvas which represents a Young woman with a veil was adjudged for 280.000 euros. Ghirlandaio's disciple captures here the practices taken from his friend and contemporary Michaelangelo and the influences of Leonardo da Vinci and most specially Raphael Sanzio. Less expected was the price fetched by the portrait of emperor Rudolf II by Martino Rota which starting in 50.000 euros was catapulted to 220.000 euros. 

Women painters was another significant trend in the sale, demonstrating that Linda Noschlin's essay: Why are there no great women artists?, is water under the bridge. The controversial writing published in 1971 paved the way for the first exhibition to explore the subject.  

Sofonisba Anguissola, the first woman painter of the Modern Age, achieved the highest hammer price for her portrait of Giuliano II, Cesarini at 14 years of age. The oil on canvas with his page was sold for 150.000 euros, slightly above its starting price. Executed upon her return from Spain, the piece reveals a strong symilarity with court portraiture in the reigh of Philip II. It is not unusual to find a second figure such as a dog or servant in the portraits of the nobility by Sánchez Coello or Antonio Moro, and of course by Anguissola.

Another painter to capture the heart of bidders was Angelika Kauffman, who fetched 110.000 euros for her portrait of The Princess Franziska von Kaunitz-Rietberg. The oil on canvas signed and dated in 1805 doubled its starting price of 50.000 euros and corresponds to the same period as her masterwork: The portrait of Ludwig I of Baviera. 

 A different approach was taken to the supposed selfportrait of a pregnant Lavinia Fontana. A rare theme in counter reformation painting it failed to arouse interest and did not sell for its starting price in 70.000 euros.

The pronounced absence from the reduced catalogue of female painters was Artemisia Gentileschi, who is now captivating the Parisian public in a major retrospective. Although in some way she was present: the work Woman with Child by her father and teacher, Orazio Gentileschi, did not sell for its starting price of 350.000 euros. Alfonso Carbajo Agrasar 

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