On December forth, seven works by the late great Norman Rockwell will go to auction at Sotheby’s. Three of those seven are expected to net several million dollars. “Saying Grace”, “The Gossips”, and “Walking to Church”, are expected to net at least $24 million altogether.
“Saying Grace” is expected to sell for $15 to $20 million. The original painting that Norman Rockwell crafted for the Nov. 24, 1951 Saturday Evening Post netted him $3,500. “The Gossips” graced the cover of the March 6, 1948 issue and is anticipated to bring in between $6 and $9 million. “The Gossips” depicts neighbors of the Rockwells, Rockwells’ wife, and Rockwell himself talking on phones. “Walking to church” depicts a family walking down a city street in their Sunday finery, and is expected to net between $3 and $5 million. “Walking to church” was painted for the April 4, 1953 cover.
Norman Rockwell Museum
The paintings have been kept in the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts for almost twenty years now. Rockwell himself died in 1978. The family of Kenneth Stuart, Rockwell’s art director at the Post, will be selling the paintings. A legal battle over the paintings among Stuart’s three sons may have stalled the sale up to this point. With ownership issues clear, the paintings will make their way to the auction block. The museum director, Laurie Norton Moffatt, said that the paintings will be missed terribly. She hopes that the paintings will find their way back to the museum someday.