The lot started in 90,000 euros, a very reasonable sum nowadays, but the frenetic sucesión of bids at the beginning made it clear very soon that we were beyond a paining with an excepcional hidden value. Besides its pictorical quality and its marvelous state of preservation, the main attractiveness of the piece layed in the speculations of its origin. According to some experts, the piece could come from the altarpiece of Santo Tomás de Villanueva in the convent church of San Julían in Valencia, a very highly steemed group of Works of which the Prado houses to round panels. Although at the beginning there were many interested, the final bidding war was fought between two bidders, one in the auction room and one on the telephone who finally got hold of the prized lot. The hammer fell in 400.000 euros, spreading a general whisper in the auction house.

The other star in the first Spring Old Master sale at Alcalá was Zacarías González Velázquez, who inspired the admiration of those who witnessed its final hammer price that multiplied by nine its inicial price. His Calvary started in 5,000 euros, a price that proved to be to modest compared to its pictorial quality, with an excellent chiaroscuro. After a long battle between two collectors on the telephone, it sold for 42,500 euros. The work was a model for the altar painting of the Sagrario chapel in Jaen’s catedral, which is considred one of the major Works by the Madrid painter.

In general, Alcalá’s sale was noted for achieving great hammerprices, due largely to the very ajusted starting prices set by the firm. Asides from the sale of the two previously recorded lots, Cry over the dead body of Christ by the Maestro of Palanquinos (end of the 15th Century) rose from 16,000 euros to a hammer price of 30,000 euros. Four buyers fought for the Vision of the Saint Magdalen of Pazzi, attributed to Ciro Ferri, which went from a starting price of 18,000 euros to sell for 35,000 euros. Notable Works selling for their starting price include Christ and the Centurion by Francisco Hernández (16,000 euros) and in the category og 19th Century painting View of St. Marcos Basilica of Venice from a balcony by Marín Rico Ortega (40,000 euros).

The head and tails of the sale went to Óscar Domínguez, who in spite of witnessing the sale of a still life from 1943 for its starting price of 60,000 euros also witnessed how Suburb with a sail, which started in 36,000 euros, failed to find a buyer. Other important lots that also failed to sell were the portrait of Sebastián of Portugal by the 17th Century Spanish school (40,000 euros), or the sensitive selfportrait executed in New York by Federico García Lorca, an ink drawing on paper bequest by the writer to the poet José Benjamin in the Spring of 1936. Other Works that were bought in were a portrait of Duke Friedland by Salomon Noveliers (25,000 euros), Portrait of Isabel Clara Eugenia of Austria attributed to the circle of Frans Pourbus (20,000 euros) and Draperie Mauve by Francisco Bores (25,000 euros). Pablo Ortiz de Zárate.

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