Since the collector’s death in 1934, George D. Horst’s art collection has remained unavailable and mostly unseen. An upcoming auction of impressionistic paintings from the likes of Corot, Hassam, and Benson will change that.
Freeman’s Auctioneers in Philadelphia will host a unique sale on March 30, when the George D. Horst Collection of Art will be up for auction.
Childe Hassam, “The Norwegian Cottage,” oil on canvas, 25 x 30 1/4 in. Est. $200,000-$300,000. Freeman’s
The Horst Collection features works by French Barbizon painters Boudin, Corot, and Daubigny; examples by leading 19th-century Spanish artists Martin Rico and Mariano Fortuny; Dutch genre and still life works; and a selection of Scandinavian works by artists like Gustaf Fjaestad and Laurits Andersen Ring. The American contingent headlines the collection, with works by famed members of “The Ten” — Childe Hassam and Frank Weston Benson — as well as fine paintings by Daniel Garber, Aldro Thompson Hibbard, William Trost Richards, John Carlson, and Emil Carlsen, among many others. The majority of the artworks were purchased between 1911 and 1929, and many of them were purchased at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, making this sale a special one for its relevance to that period of art-making.
In all, Freeman’s sale of the George D. Horst Collection features 64 lots, with artworks in the traditional media of oil, watercolor, and bronze sculpture.
Daniel Garber, “Glen Cuttalossa,” oil on canvas, 42 x 42 in. Est. $200,000-$300,000. Freeman’s
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, “Garden Gate,” oil on canvas, 13 x 18 1/4 in. Est. $60,000-$80,000. Freeman’s
Horst’s fine collection of 19th- and early-20th-century paintings and sculpture had gone largely unnoticed and unrecognized before this prominent sale. Horst arrived in Reading, Pennsylvania, in the 1880s. Finding success as an entrepreneur, he began buying art and donating it to the city’s nascent museum. When the museum was sited at a location Horst did not approve of, he withdrew his paintings and support, instead placing the artworks in a phenomenal private collection, housed in Reading’s suburbs, that has remained a hidden gem of the art world.
Emil Carlsen, “Copper and Porcelain,” oil on canvas laid on board, 58 x 46 3/4 in. Est. $100,000-$150,000. Freeman’s
Edward Willis Redfield, “Winter Sunlight,” oil on canvas, 38 1/4 x 50 in. Est. $200,000-$300,000. Freeman’s
Presale viewings will be held on March 26-29, and the auction itself takes place on March 30, beginning at 2 p.m. To view the full auction catalogue, visit Freeman’s online.
