The Collection of Hester Diamond Part I
New York
The Collection of Hester Diamond Part I 
29 January 2021 | New York | full auction details
Dynamic, unpredictable, and incomparable, Hester Diamond was a fearless and visionary collector. Whether through the expressive qualities of the paintings and sculpture in her apartment, the electric colors of her furniture, or in the mesmerizing patterns of the textiles she chose, each piece in her collection personifies Hester’s distinct vision and the freedom that came with being true to herself. The ability to pursue her passions with such conviction and clarity not only propelled Hester to build an extraordinary career as a venerated art dealer and interior designer, but, in a remarkable feat, to assemble important collections of both Modernist works and Old Master Paintings and Sculpture from the ground up that were of equal quality and breadth. Hester was a prolific and passionate collector and traveled extensively in search of quality. She acquired masterpieces by art historical titans such as Bernini and Dosso Dossi, but also recognized the beauty in the hands of anonymous masters, and the fresh viewpoints of contemporary voices like Barry X Ball and Bill Viola. The ease in which Hester displayed art and objects across time periods demonstrated the frivolity of artificial barriers imposed among collecting categories, and she proved that they could be broken and lived with comfortably.
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European Sculpture and Works of Art
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Old Master Paintings
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Contemporary Art
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all images © the gallery and the artist(s)
Selected Lots
Benvenuto Tisi, called Garofalo Nativity
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School of Bruges Virgin and Child, from an illuminated Book of Hours
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Southern Netherlandish, Antwerp, circa 1520 Relief with the Mourning Marys and Saint John
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Pieter Coecke van Aelst A triptych: The Nativity, The Adoration of the Magi, The Presentation in the Temple
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Southern Netherlandish, Antwerp or Brussels, circa 1480 'Johannesschüssel' or Saint John's Head on a Platter
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Southern Netherlandish, Brussels, circa 1480-1500 Retable with the Lamentation
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Roberto d'Oderisio Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist
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Girolamo della Robbia, Florence, probably circa 1510 Madonna and Child
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Attributed to the Master of San Trovaso, Italian, Veneto, circa 1480 Man of Sorrows with Mourning Angels
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Giovanni Battista Benvenuti, called Ortolano The Circumcision
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Lorenzo Ghiberti and workshop, Italian, Florence, circa 1425-50 Madonna and Child
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Benedetto da Maiano, Italian, Florence, circa 1485-95 Mary Magdalene
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Francesco de' Franceschi St. Jerome in the wilderness with a lion
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Alessandro Fei, called Alessandro del Barbiere The Flagellation of Christ
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Federico Barocci Saint Joseph, a head study for the Visitation Altarpiece
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Giovanni Francesco di Niccolò di Luteri, called Dosso Dossi The Plague at Pergamea; The Sicilian Games
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Giovanni Bonazza, Italian, Padua, circa 1700 Four Reliefs with Personifications of the Winds
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Italian, Trapani, circa 1700 St. Michael and the Fall of the Rebel Angels
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Jean del Cour, Flemish, Liège, circa 1690 - 1691 Saint James the Less
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Aurelio Lombardo, Italian, circa 1525 Dido
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Pietro Bernini and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Rome, circa 1615-1618 Autumn
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Attributed to Martin Zürn, German, Lake Constance, circa 1630 Christ Child
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Barry X Ball Envy
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Xu Zhen (MadeIn Company) Spread Forest
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Filippino Lippi Penitent Mary Magdalene adoring the True Cross in a rocky landscape
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Master of the Schongauer Altärchen, German, Passau, circa 1510 The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne (Anna Selbdritt)
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South German, Swabia, circa 1480 Saint George and the Dragon
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Jörg Lederer and Workshop, South German, Kaufbeuren, circa 1510-1520 The Dormition of the Virgin
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Jörg Lederer, South German, Kaufbeuren, circa 1515-1520 Saint Sebastian
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Dustin Yellin Psychogeography Study #9 (Empathy & Entropy)
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German, Nuremberg, circa 1480-1490 Pilate presenting Christ (Ecce Homo)
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Maarten van Heemskerck Lamentation
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Master of the Lille Adoration St. Jerome in his study
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Leonhard Kern, German, circa 1614-1620 The Lamentation
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South German, probably Franconia, mid-18th century A German Rococo Stand carved with dragons, shellwork and a cornucopia
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Attributed to Lux Maurus, South German, Allgäu, circa 1510-20 Saint Martin and the Beggar
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Attributed to Hans Degler, South German, Weilheim, circa 1600-1610 Christ in the Garden
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Nikolaos Tzafouris Sudarium (St. Veronica's Veil), St. George slaying a dragon, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, the Deesis: a triptych
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Jacopo di Cione Madonna Nursing the Christ Child with Saints Lawrence and Margaret; Predella: the Man of Sorrows, Mater Dolorosa, and Saint John the Evangelist, with two coats of arms
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Alonso Berruguete, Spanish, probably Úbeda, circa 1555 Mater Dolorosa
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Circle of Veit Stoss, German, Nuremberg, circa 1510 Madonna and Child on a Crescent Moon
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South German or Bohemian, circa 1700 Assumption of the Virgin
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Giuseppe Maria Mazza, Italian, Bologna, Late 17th/Early 18th Century David Triumphant Over Goliath
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Joachim Anthonisz. Wtewael Adoration of the Shepherds
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Jacopo da Ponte, called Jacopo Bassano Deposition of Christ
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Giuseppe Mazzuoli and Bartolomeo Mazzuoli, Italian, 1710-25 The Lamentation
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French, circa 1700-1725 Eagle
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Matthias Bernhard Braun, Austria, circa 1720 A Putto catching a Goat
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Bill Viola Ablutions
