Sotheby’s London will auction what is believed to be the only known self-portrait by Clara Peeters, a pioneering Flemish still life painter from the early 17th century. The painting, a vanitas still life featuring a presumed self-portrait and a still life of flowers in a glass vase, carries a presale estimate of £1.2 million to £1.8 million ($1.6 million–$2.4 million) and will be offered in the “Old Master and 19th Century Paintings Evening Auction” on July 2. The work was previously downgraded to the artist’s circle but is now accepted as an autograph Peeters, with a provenance dating back to 1767.
This sale matters because it could shatter Peeters’s 27-year-old auction record of $1.6 million, set in 1998, and highlights a resurgence of scholarly and market interest in female Old Master artists. Peeters, who was the subject of the Prado’s first solo exhibition for a woman artist in 2016, is increasingly recognized as a major still life specialist. The rarity of her works—only about 40 are known—and the unique self-portrait element make this a landmark event for the Old Master market and for the visibility of women artists in art history.