A collection of Wyeth paintings valued at $3 million were auctioned Tuesday, writes Stephanie Farr for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The paintings were owned by L.L. Bean’s granddaughter. There are works by three generations of the Wyeth family—N.C., Andrew, Jamie, and others.
Linda L. Bean discovered the Wyeths after finding a book of N.C. Wyeth’s letters at an antiques show. She went on to collect 20 of their paintings.
The paintings were auctioned online and in New York City by Bonhams, a network of auction houses headquartered in London.
Expected to fetch the highest bid is “Unknown“, a W.C. Wyeth oil painting of Port Clyde, Maine. Painted around 1936, it’s estimated at between $1.2 and $1.8 million, according to Bonhams.
The collection includes many Wyeth works of scenes and people of Maine, where Bean was a lifelong resident until her death in March at age 82.
The Wyeth family spent summers in Maine starting in 1920, when N.C. bought a home in Port Clyde he named “Eight Bells.”
Bean ran a “Wyeths by Water” boat tour, the Dip Net Restaurant, and the town’s General Store, where she created the Maine Wyeth Art Gallery.
Find out more about Linda Bean’s life and her connections to the Wyeths in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
