Christie's First Auction

<p>James Christie held his first auction on 5th December, 1766 - billed as a sale of “genuine household furniture, jewels, plate, firearms, china and a large quantity of madeira and high flavoured claret” belonging to a “Noble Personage (deceased)”.</p><br><p>His auction-house, Christie’s, went on to become one of the world’s leading dealers of fine art. But it took Christie many years to exploit this opportunity, which he accomplished partly by leveraging well-connected friends. His milieu included Richard Tattersall, Thomas Chipperfield, Thomas Gainsborough, Horace Walpole, Joshua Reynolds and David Garrick - a ‘Who’s Who’ of 18th century London once known as ‘Christie's Fraternity of Godparents’.</p><br><p>In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how Christie innovated public viewings, product placement and sales technique; connect the dots between the French Revolution and Christie’s biggest successes; and reveal how much it costs to buy a two-headed taxidermied lamb… </p><br><p>Further Reading:</p><ul><li>‘James Christie: the eloquent auctioneer’ (Royal Academy of Arts, 2016): <a href="https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/james-christie-eloquent-auctioneer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/james-christie-eloquent-auctioneer</a></li><li>‘Mr Christie, before Christie’s… His early days’ (Artprice, 2021): <a href="https://www.artprice.com/artmarketinsight/mr-christie-before-christies-his-early-days" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.artprice.com/artmarketinsight/mr-christie-before-christies-his-early-days</a></li><li>‘Welcome to Christie’s’ (Christies, 2016): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ2kq20kK5U" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ2kq20kK5U</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p>#1800s #Arts #Person</p><br><p><strong>Love the show? Join </strong>🌴<strong>CLUB RETROSPECTORS </strong>🌴<strong> to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!</strong></p><p>Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.</p><p><strong>Join now via </strong><a href="https://apple.co/3xCWWQX" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Apple Podcasts</strong></a><strong> or </strong><a href="https://patreon.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Patreon</strong></a><strong>. </strong>Thanks!</p><br><p><strong>We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:</strong><a href="https://create.acast.com/episodes/ca1f94a1-0921-446a-ae00-4d4bfd2ba3ef/podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong> </strong></a><a href="http://podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>podfollow.com/Retrospectors</strong></a></p><br><p><em>The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.</em></p><p><em>Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King.</em></p><p><em>Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2022.</em></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

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