Hampden-Sydney, VA – On Monday, March 22, art expert Christopher Apostle will speak at Hampden-Sydney College.  Apostle, a 1985 graduate of Hampden-Sydney, will present Old Masters, New Eyes: Connoisseurship and the Art Market in the New Century.

Senior Vice President and Director, Old Master Paintings, at Sotheby’s in New York, Apostle’s expertise is focused on European paintings from before 1820.  According to Apostle, in an article in Hampden-Sydney’s alumni magazine, The Record, “There is a lot of crawling around on wet basement floors in my suit looking for paintings… [However,] a recent auction of Old Masters Paintings took in about $70 million, including Study of an Elderly Woman in a White Cap by Rembrandt, which sold for more than $4.2 million.”

At Hampden-Sydney, Apostle studied Greek and Latin and Humanities.  Like many graduates, he did not know exactly what he wanted to do after finishing college.  From The Record, “I thought about teaching Greek, but I decided to take a year off.  After that year, I enrolled in Sotheby’s Works of Art course in London. They taught how to look at objects—we actually got to hold art, to feel it, and to turn it around in our hands.”  He credits this course with teaching him the art of connoisseurship, understanding what makes good art good.  Apostle has been with Sotheby’s since 1988.

Sponsored by the Hampden-Sydney Department of Fine Arts, Apostle’s presentation is at 4:30 PM in the Parents & Friends Lounge in Venable Hall.  The community is invited.

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