But if you can afford them, some magnificent pieces will be offered. (The sale includes works from the collection of Gerald Bordman, the Philadelphia native and American theater scholar who died in May.)
Two of the five are by New Hope impressionist Edward Willis Redfield: Canal at Lambertville, with a presale price estimate of $150,000 to $250,000; and Spring, with a presale estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. Two other works have presale estimates of $150,000 to $250,000 and $200,000 to $300,000, respectively: Blue and Opal - the Photographer by James A. McNeill Whistler, and Part of the Ruins of Kenilworth Castle by the early-19th-century American Thomas Cole. Rounding out the five is John Sloan's charming Making Faces, with a presale estimate of $120,000 to $180,000.
Even the low presale estimates are for works by well-known artists, two out of three anyway: Summer by Philadelphian Giovanni Martino, and Hillborn Darlington Flowers by Daniel Garber, another member of the New Hope impressionist colony, along with William Zorach's Woman With Violin - Portrait of Alix Maruchess.
In between are dozens of works by prominent and familiar painters, including three by artists whose works rarely come up at auction: In the Country, Summer by Thomas Eakins ($25,000 to $40,000); a piece of illustration art by N.C. Wyeth, depicting Sally Merrilee and Johnny, plus 17 words of dialogue ($40,000 to $60,000); and a piece of illustration art by William Glackens, Peppering the Troops With Flour to Make Them Look Travel-Stained (an affordable $1,500 to $2,500).
Other works by well-known artists are suitable for winter: two oil on canvases by Fern Coppedge, Winter Landscape, Sunset ($12,000 to $18,000) and Lambertville Across the Delaware, Winter ($30,000 to $50,000); and Old Trinity, New York Winter by Guy Carleton Wiggins ($30,000 to $50,000).
