Press Release

New Orleans, LA, USA, November 6, 2024 -- Spectacular sculptures by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (American, 1848-1907) and Salvatore Florenti Albano (Italian, 1841-1893), and an original oil on canvas painting by Daniel Ridgway Knight (American/Paris, 1839-1924) are expected headliners in an Important November Estates Auction planned for November 8th and 9th by Crescent City Auction Gallery.

The auction – 916 lots in all – will be held online and live in the Crescent City Gallery located at 1330 St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans. Start times both days are 10 am Central time. Featured will be the curated Outsider Art collection of Daryl Sue and Leonard White of Covington, La.; and items from the estate of Laura Simon Nelson, previously married to Dr. James Nelson of Baton Rouge, La.

The bronze Head of Christ by Augustus Saint-Gaudens is from the Memorial of Reverend Phillips Brooks, housed at Trinity Church on Copley Square in Boston from 1896-1907. The sculpture is 1 of 2, cast in the 1960s after the plaster original (per the original Sotheby’s catalog description). Pieces by Saint-Gaudens are highly prized. This one should bring $40,000-$60,000.

The carved Carrara marble sculpture by Salvatore Florenti Albano was created in 1897 and titled L’Amore E Psiche (Cupid and Psyche). It has a pre-sale estimate of $20,000-$40,000. Albano was a Neoclassical sculptor with numerous patrons in Italy, London and New York. L’Amore E Psiche is a mature work executed in the last years of his illustrious career.

The oil on canvas painting by Daniel Ridgway Knight, titled Lavandiere, was rendered circa the 1880s and carries a pre-sale estimate of $20,000-$40,000. Knight was an American artist born in Chambersburg, Pa., but he lived and worked much of his life in Paris, where he painted peasant women outdoors to great popular success. Lavandiere is a fine representation of his work.

The rest of the catalog is an eclectic mix of merchandise, filled with the kinds of items people have come to expect from Cresent City Auction Gallery: fine jewelry (plus a men’s 18k yellow gold and stainless-steel Rolex Submariner black wristwatch, est. $12,000-$15,000); oil paintings by local and regional artists; French furniture; sterling silver; mirrors; art glass; and decorative accessories.

Items range from a late 19th century Adam-style crème and verte paint decorated parcel gilt over-the-mantel mirror with Wedgwood roundels (est. $3,000-$5,000); a 20th century Story and Clark burled walnut and ebonized baby grand piano, Manhattan model with original bench (est. $2,500-$4,500); to a circa 1816-1817 English sterling silver covered dish by William Elliot of London (est. $2,500-$3,500).

An oil on canvas painting by Pauline Lennard Palmer (American, 1867-1938), titled The New Book (1930), signed and dated lower right and housed in a 57 ½ inch by 47 ¼ inch frame, is expected to bring $5,000-$7,000. Palmer was a prolific Chicago artist and a pioneering American Impressionist, regarded by the New York Times as one of the leading American women painters.

An oil on canvas backed by Masonite painting by Mary Jett Franklin (Ga./Paris, 1842-1928), titled Dans la sacristie de (l’eglise) Bagneux (In the Sacristy of the Church at Bagneux), 1900, should change hands for $3,000-$5,000. Franklin was an extraordinary and successful female artist of her time – a genre and portrait painter who was born in Georgia and studied in Paris.

For more information regarding Crescent City Auction Gallery and the two-day Important Estates Auction planned for Friday and Saturday, November 8th and 9th, beginning at 10 am Central time both days, visit www.crescentcityauctiongallery.com. Updates are posted often.

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