Christie’s to Sell 20 Works From Albert Zuckerman’s Collection in London
A major Pre-Raphaelite canvas with a long auction history is heading back to the block in London. Christie’s will offer John Melhuish Strudwick’s (1849–1937) Thy Music, faintly falling, dies away, Thy dear eyes dream that Love will live for aye (1893) in its Old Masters Evening Sale on June 30, with an estimate of £700,000 to £1 million ($950,000–$1.3 million).
The painting is expected to draw close attention not only for its lyrical subject, but also for its market history. Albert Zuckerman bought the work from Christie’s London in November 2003 for £509,250 ($863,130). According to the Artnet Price Database, the canvas now stands as Strudwick’s second-highest auction record. The artist’s top result remains Summer Songs (1901), which sold at Sotheby’s London two years later for £848,000 ($1.4 million).
Strudwick belonged to the second generation of Pre-Raphaelite artists, the circle that followed the original Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of 1848 to 1853. Christie’s described him as one of the movement’s leading exponents, and art historian Steven Kolsteren has calculated that he made just 39 paintings. That scarcity, combined with the meticulous finish of works such as Thy Music, has helped define his reputation. Christie’s said the painting “marks the culmination of everything the artist stood for” and reflects the “cult of beauty” associated with the Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic movements.
The work also carries a notable provenance. Liverpool shipping magnate William Imrie, an early business partner behind the White Star Line, bought it directly from Strudwick before consigning it to auction in 1907. Since then, the painting has changed hands about half a dozen times and appeared at auction three times.
The sale is part of a broader dispersal of Zuckerman’s collection. The following day, Christie’s will present 19 additional works in its Old Masters to Modern Day Sale, including two fairy scenes by John Anster Fitzgerald and three sets of graphic tiles by William Bell Scott. Among the highlights are Albert Joseph Moore’s Pansies (c. 1875), estimated at £150,000 to 250,000 ($210,000–$340,000), along with Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer’s Les Deux vignes (The two vines) (1920), Edgard Maxence’s Sirène (1902), and a pencil and chalk version of Rossetti’s Lady Lilith attributed to Henry Treffry Dunn, each estimated at £100,000 to 150,000 ($140,000–$200,000).
Together, the two sales offer a compact survey of late 19th-century taste — from Pre-Raphaelite idealism to Symbolist atmosphere — and a reminder that these works continue to move between private collections and the market with remarkable persistence.
