Specialist Spotlight: David Weiss

Join us as we spotlight David Weiss, Senior Vice President, Fine Art, ahead of our Old Masters & 19th Century Art auction, to be held live in New York on May 12. Learn about his journey in the world offine art, notable achievements at Freeman’s, and his favorite lots from our upcoming sale. 

Freeman’s: What originally attracted you to the world of fine art and auction? What drew you to becoming a specialist and translating your passion into your career?  

David Weiss: My path to the world of Fine Art and Auction was somewhat circuitous. I may be one of the few in this field who was a political science major and a fine art minor with aspirations to be a lawyer (I completed my first year of law school, in fact). My introduction into this world was as someone who was also accepted to art school and who enjoyed painting and drawing. After college, I attended a Sotheby’s course in London and thereafter worked for a prominent Washington DC art dealer. I enjoyed working for the art dealer but found myself attracted to the world of auctions. I worked for a small Washington, DC auction house for over a decade before coming to Philadelphia. There, I had my hand in everything from American and European paintings to sculpture to fine prints to antique carpets.  

F: How did your career journey lead you to Freeman’s?  

DW:   I started in Freeman’s in the fall of 2002, originally lured here by Paul Roberts of Lyon and Turnbull, Freeman’s sister auctioneer.  

F: Are you personally a collector of fine and decorative art? What are some of your favorites that you’ve acquired? 

DW:   I am a sometime collector with some engravings I have inherited, including works by artists such as William Hogarth and Peter Milton, and a small group of oriental rugs.  One of my own paintings hangs in my home. It is one that I painted as a senior in high school, and it reminds me how much I used to enjoy painting.  

F: Can you describe a collection that you are proud to have brought to auction? 

DW:   A collection I was pleased to bring to Freeman‘s was from the family of an Uptown Manhattan collector (Michael Palitz, consignor). The Consignment was from a referral, and I was told to expect to see some art. While I was hoping to see European paintings, most of what was there were American paintings, and interestingly, a nice lot for Jacob’s sale that sold for $50,000. Across several categories, mainly American Art, the consignment sold for $200,600 hammer.  

F: Describe a typical workday for you at Freeman’s.  

DW:   There really is no typical workday at Freeman’s for me. Like all of us, it’s a mixture of potential client visits, responding to referrals and leads, assisting with proposals, and providing estimates for consignments. I also enjoy being an auctioneer.  

From Left to Right: Lot 2 | Follower of Joris Hoegfnagel (Flemish, 1542-1601) | Vanitas Still Life with Insects | Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000; Lot 3 | Circle of Hercules Seghers (Dutch, c. 1590-c. 1638) | Vanitas Still Life with an Intaglio Ring | Estimate: $3,000 - $5,000

F: What are some market trends you’ve observed recently in the category of Old Masters & 19th Century Art? Can you tell us about some of your favorite lots in our upcoming May 12 auction? 

DW:   In the category of Old Masters and 19th-century European art, there are definitely some clear market trends. First of all, there is an upsurge in excellent Old Masters, perhaps a harkening back to tradition and a recognition of quality amidst a tide of interest in contemporary and fresh paint art. The term ‘Old Masters’, by the way, generally refers to fine art dating from the early 19th century and back typically to the 15th century, although we do see earlier examples, too. In the same breath, I would say that for every interesting Old Master painting that generates attention and strong bidding, there are dozens that do not merit our attention because they may be done by the follower of a well-known artist or a pupil of a well-known artist. Another clear trend is that many of the finally painted, highly decorative British and Continental paintings executed in the late 19th century, particularly ornate genre scenes that ‘tell a story’, are simply not selling well these days. This genre was very popular in the 1990s and early 2000s. As a consequence, when I see one or more paintings in a collection of this genre, the owner is typically not pleased to hear that the value of his or her paintings has fallen since the 1990s and early 2000s.  

In the May 12 Auction, some of my favorite lots include lots of 37 by Virgilio Mattoni de la Fuente, a large painting that sold for over $200,000 at auction some years ago, the Gaetano de Martini, lot 42, which is very well executed, lot 8 by Johann Heiss, an artist whose paintings are most often sold in Germany and was the result of a house call in NJ courtesy of Raph, lot 9 by Franz Janneck which, thanks to Julianna is fully authenticated and previously unknown within the corpus of the artist’s work, lot 21, the great George Romney portrait, and the two ‘Vanitas’ paintings, lots 2 and 3, which feature human skulls and while modestly estimated are drawing a fair amount of interest - thank you to Corbin for adding those two lots to the sale.