Last week, Rembrandt’s Young Lion Resting came to auction at Sotheby’s and sold for a record price, $18M, the highest ever achieved for a Rembrandt drawing. A remarkable result and a headline moment for the category.
Results like this are striking and at first glance the sale might appear to signal a turning point, particularly as the Old Master market has long been viewed as steady rather than speculative. It is often overshadowed by the faster-moving and record breaking Contemporary and Post-War sectors. While Old Masters have typically offered consistency and connoisseurship rather than headline growth, moments like this remind us of the enduring power of rarity, quality and provenance.
That said, it’s important to be clear: this is a star work. Drawings by Rembrandt of this calibre, freshness and scarcity almost never appear on the market. It is also one of a very small group of lion studies by the artist, the rest of which are already held in museum collections. The result shouldn’t be read as a wholesale shift overnight — but it may prompt renewed attention, especially from collectors building thoughtful, long-term collections.
A reminder that in the Old Master world, when something truly exceptional appears, the market still responds.
Could moments like this encourage a new generation of collectors to look again at Old Masters?