Souvenirs from the Field of Battle is officially recongised as New Zealand artist Charles Frederick Goldie’s first masterpiece Photo: Webb's
A Goldie painting that sold for almost $90,000 at auction was painted when the iconic New Zealand artist was just 19 years old.
Souvenirs from the Field of Battle is officially recognised as Charles Frederick Goldie's first masterpiece.
The artwork sold for $89,625 at auction on Monday night.
Webb's director of art Emily Gardener told RNZ Nights that it had been "incredibly exciting" to deal with the work, which had recently resurfaced after being passed down through two generations of a family.
The artwork was painted by Goldie when he was just 19, Gardener said.
"It was absolutely fascinating, he basically had just graduated from high school and had been working as an apprentice for his father and had received some minor awards as a young boy at the age of 15."
She said his artistic mentors were already starting to see his talent at a very young age, before he trained in Europe and went on to become the master he is known as today.
While he is more well known for his portrait work, Souvenirs from the Field of Battle was a still life piece.
Gardener said the young Goldie had the opportunity to "put all of his power" into the one work, and he really wanted to show off everything he was capable of.
"When you look at the work, you just see Goldie just had this incredible, almost obsessive nature of doing this ultra realism. When you look at the folds and the way that the light shimmers on the helmet and the sword.
"He was really known in his later portraits for his warm hues and the way that he really had empathy for his subject matter, and even in a still life, you really capture that sense of history within that still life setting.
"Goldie is the most famous artist in the country, just due ot the popularity and accessibility of his work, he is really considered a cultural icon of our time."
Last year, Thoughts of a Tohunga, which was painted by Goldie in 1938, sold for more than $3,757,000.
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