| Honorary Chairman, Christie's International UK Ltd.
Noël Annesley joined Christie’s in 1964 and worked in the picture department before establishing Christie’s highly successful Prints and Drawings Department, where he developed his reputation as a leading authority on Old Master drawings, prints and British watercolours.
Over the years, Mr. Annesley has made many historic discoveries including a magnificent drawing by the early 16th century Venetian artist Sebastiano del Piombo. Mr. Annesley has also identified and published works by other major masters including Michelangelo, Raphael and Rubens.
A renowned auctioneer, Noël Annesley has sold some of the most important works of art in auction history. He brought the hammer down in 1991 on Venus and Adonis by Titian for a world record price of £7.5 million and a year later he also sold the superb Horse Guards Parade by Canaletto for a then world record price of £10.2 million. Noël Annesley organized and conducted the extraordinary sale of Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth in 1984 that realized £21.6 million, as well as the subsequent sales of Prints in 1985 and Drawings in 1987.
Mr. Annesley has acted as auctioneer for most of the major Old Master drawings to come to sale anywhere in the world in the last thirty years. In 1993, he sold Michelangelo’s Holy Family with the Infant Baptist on the Rest on the Flight into Egypt for £4.2 million to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu. In December 1996, he sold Raphael’s Head and Hand of an Apostle for the then record price of £5.2 million. More recently, Mr. Annesley has been responsible for selling the three most expensive Old Master drawings at auction. Study for the Risen Christ by Michelangelo sold for £8.1 million in July 2000 and Leonardo da Vinci’s Horse and Rider sold for the same price in July 2001. He sold in July 2005, Head of St Joseph by Andrea del Sarto for £6,504,000. In June 2006 he sold Turner's great watercolour The Blue Rigi for £5,200,000. It has recently been acquired by Tate Britain.
Noël Annesley was appointed Deputy Chairman of Christie’s UK in 1985 and served as Deputy Chairman of Christie’s International plc from 1992-2000. He was appointed Chairman of Christie's Fine Art Specialist Group in January 2001 before becoming appointed Honorary Chairman of Christie’s UK in January 2004. He is also Chairman of Christie’s Education.
He lives with his wife in London and is Deputy Chairman of the Trustees of the Dulwich Picture Gallery, a Governor of the Yehudi Menuhin School and a Trustee of the Michael Marks Foundation. |