Art Advisors
As an art advisor, your clients expect you to reduce their transactional risk and protect their interests. Lowy’s comprehensive services and expertise in both art and frame help you with the due diligence process ensuring that your clients acquire high quality art, avoid buying works with authenticity or conservation issues, and increase the value of the art they sell.
Art advisors that rely on Lowy for framing and conservation services include Citibank Art Advisory, Guggenheim Asher Associates, Nancy Whyte Fine Arts, Tang Associates, Andrea Crane, Ann Guite, and Ruth Catone.
Read more in our featured story below.
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In 2001, Sotheby’s put up for sale a portrait of George Washington, an “unattributed” work estimated at $10,000–$20,000. Several bidders, however, thought the painting was a Gilbert Stuart and it was eventually sold to Mrs. Eugene Casey for $247,750. Jane Studabaker of the Guarisco Gallery in Washington, D.C . quickly brought the painting to Lowy on behalf of Mrs. Casey to evaluate its condition and proper conservation treatment.
When Larry Shar, president of Lowy, had previously previewed the portrait at Sotheby’s, he thought it was probably an original Stuart, but was troubled by the mouth area that was visibly and poorly overpainted, missing Stuart’s characteristic way of depicting the expression of Washington’s mouth. Now was the time to reveal what was under the overpainting.
At the Lowy conservation lab, senior paintings conservator, Bill Santel, and his colleagues treated the portrait and were overjoyed to find the original mouth virtually untouched under the overpainting. With its conservation completed and its antique frame restored, this magnificent work of art—indeed a Stuart—was ready for its next stage as a prominent treasure in the estate established for the Mayor of the District of Columbia, surrounded by other artworks assembled by Mrs. Casey.
Above:
Portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart after conservation.
Right:
Detail of portrait showing cleaning process.