French connections

The auction world is full of fables of unexpected triumphs and hair-raising near misses. Arnaud Cornette de Saint Cyr has stories of both – and everything in between. Last year was an annus mirabilis, with a selection of the fabulous art collection – not least works by Dufy, Géricault, Delacroix and Millet – belonging to the legendary French actor Alain Delon. The saleroom was so packed, the auction had to be relayed to another gallery to accommodate all the expectant bidders. Not surprisingly, the auction – ‘60 Years of Passion’, which took place a year after Bonhams had acquired Cornette de Saint Cyr – achieved more than €8m, double its pre-sale estimate.

Alain Delon had a long-established connection with Arnaud’s father, Pierre. As Arnaud says, “They had been friends for more than 60 years, which began through them collecting Old Master drawings. He and my father were, at that time, among the very few who were interested in this field, so that created the bond between them. Alain was part of our family.” During a sale of his works in 2007, the actor bestowed a gavel on Arnaud, who was on the rostrum. “It had been given to Alain by my father. It was so moving, I was on the verge of tears.”

Having been born into a family of auctioneers, was Arnaud going to do anything else? “Well, I was a banker at first. I went to business school and then into private banking in Hong Kong for three years. But after a couple of years I was experiencing Sunday evening trauma… when the weekend is over and you have to go back to work. I realised the banking industry was not for me. So I decided to return to France, become an auctioneer and go into the family business. I mean, we’re not going to go into deep psychoanalysis, but it did make my father very happy.”

His father, Pierre, began Cornette de Saint Cyr in the 1970s. But this was a new departure for the family. As Arnaud puts it, “My grandfather was a surgeon with a clinic in Morocco, which was where my father was brought up. One day, my father went to an antique shop and bought an Old Master drawing to give to a friend as a wedding present. However, he liked it so much, he kept it, and his passion grew from that.”

Cornette de Saint Cyr became known for auctions of celebrities, of actors, of people from the world of fashion. “My father had many friends in show business. He was married to an actress, and it was his natural environment. But he was an innovator as well: he had the first sales of comics and photography, for example.”

Cornette de Saint Cyr became known for selling Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary works – they hit a rich seam of works by Degas – but the single lot that stays in Arnaud’s mind was an Old Master painting. “We had a phone call one day from somebody who was the former history teacher of one of my uncles in Morocco, so quite remote. He said, ‘Well, we have some family paintings, can I send you some pictures?’ They looked interesting, so my father visits the family. They were in Périgueux in the centre of France, in a small, small house. And there was nothing, it was just like one white leather sofa, a big TV and that painting. My brother looks at it and the panel is fantastic – oak panel, not reproduction. The painting comes back to Paris, and we show it to our expert. Two days later, he calls and says, “Jackpot!” It was by the Master of Karlsruhe and we sold it for €5m.

After 2000, Cornette de Saint Cyr decided to focus on Modern and Contemporary works, partly because Pierre “was very much involved in the art scene. He was the head of the Palais de Tokyo. He was very close to all the artists of his generation: César, Arman, Combas… I knew them all when I was growing up. Arman was quite silent. Combas was really close to him. César, on the other hand, was very funny. He would tell all these funny stories, and he was really, really nice. Every single morning my father and he would talk on the phone. It was more than friendship.” Arnaud points to a portrait of his father that César painted which hung in his office – it is now where Arnaud sits.

The house of Cornette de Saint Cyr moved to its current headquarters in Avenue Hoche in 2013. “It was a big step for us,” Arnaud confirms. “The competition in Paris was really raising its game to international standards, and we realised we had to step up.” The building – a 19th-century hôtel particulier a few minutes’ walk from Parc Monceau – is full of fin-de-siècle flourishes, with high ceilings, a spectacular stone and wrought-iron staircase, and large windows overlooking Avenue Hoche itself. It is a wonderful place to display art and collectibles, says Arnaud.

In June 2022, Bonhams announced that it had acquired Cornette de Saint Cyr. How did Arnaud and his family feel about joining the Bonhams Network? “It has been said before that to be an international auction house, you had to be established in England in the late 18th century. And Cornette de Saint Cyr was not. So it was extremely hard to build an international brand. We are well known in France and Europe, a bit in New York, but we needed to boost our presence in Asia. So the obvious candidate was Bonhams. When we began talks with Bonhams, it was obvious that it was absolutely the right move to make at the right time.”

And what has Bonhams brought to CSC? “Oh, a lot. The standards, the logistics, but above all the network. Network in terms of geography, network in terms of human resources, network in terms of expertise. It’s massive! I mean when you have a painting, you can talk to five, six, seven, eight people who are knowledgeable, and you can share your views on the painting, on the estimate, and then you can rely on all the network for the sourcing and then for the selling. It’s a huge, huge, huge asset, and it’s something that our clients now demand. It’s not just a pitching pirouette. It is true – and something that we couldn’t do before.”

Lucinda Bredin is Editor of Bonhams Magazine.