On April 26, 2013 Christie’s announced the sale of Three Generations of Wyeth: The Collection of Eric and Cynthia Sambol, which will take place on May 23, 2013 as part of its American Art auction in New York. Comprised of thirteen works – one by N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945), six by Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), and six by Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946) – it is one of the largest collections of Wyeths Christie’s has ever sold.
Eric Sambol, a 53-year-old New Jersey businessman, became captivated by the work of Andrew Wyeth after a school trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1976 to see the exhibition Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth: Kuerners and Olsons. Years later in 2000, after building an impressive collection of Hudson River School and maritime paintings, Sambol acquired his first Andrew Wyeth painting, Flat Boat. With the help of his wife Cynthia, a landscape designer, the couple’s collection grew to include works by Andrew’s father, N.C. Wyeth, and Andrew’s son, Jamie Wyeth.
Highlights from the collection include Andrew Wyeth’s Rocky Hill, an emotionally wrought watercolor of his dog Nell, which is expected to garner between $1.8 million and $2.4 million; Jamie Wyeth’s Lighthouse Dandelions, which draws on the family’s close connection to Maine and is expected to sell for $250,000-$350,000; and N.C. Wyeth’s Norry Seavey Hauling Traps Off Blubber Island, which was painted as a gift to Roger Scaife, a friend of the artist and editor at Houghton Mifflin and is expected to bring $300,000 to $500,000.
