Auctions | January 8, 2021

Catawiki Starts Off 2021 with Victorian Watercolors and a Picasso Postcard

Amsterdam — 2020 saw the continued development of the Catawiki Autographs and Manuscripts auction. This has grown into a weekly auction, offering a wide range of original documents and signed items.

We are starting the year with some beautiful offerings. Alongside the (now traditional) leaves from medieval Books of Hours, and vellum indentures, there are a variety of Napoleonic documents, items from France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain.

Amongst the highlights in the auction is a signed postcard by Pablo Picasso from 1925. The postcard is of the work “Les Adieux du Péchéur,” from the artist’s “blue period” and is signed later in bright red ink. It comes with a provenance document.

Courtesy of Catawiki

From “Morning Prayer” a collection of 38 watercolors and a manuscript poem by the English watercolorist and engraver Thomas Dalziel.

Another particularly fine lot is “Morning Prayer” a collection of 38 watercolors and a manuscript poem by the English watercolorist and engraver Thomas Dalziel. One of the Victorian publishers, the Brothers Dalziel, Thomas was a skilled illustrator, and his work adorns many classic editions, particularly those of Dickens. This work was dedicated to his wife, Louisa, and would appear to have been written as a tribute and a way of coping after the death of a daughter. Both poignant and beautiful, this is a significant item by this important artist.

The auction will be online starting Friday 8th January 2020 at 10:00 UTC | closing Sunday 17th January 2020 at 18:01 UTC and will be visible at the following link: https://www.catawiki.com/a/421057

Marc Harrison, category manager Books, Manuscripts & Cartography at Catawiki: “Almost every collector and bookseller are searching for unique pieces. A signature from Picasso is a must for any 20th Century Modern Art collector. The manuscript by Thomas Dalziel, although sad in subject and tone, is a marvelous tribute to an unnamed child.”