With twenty years’ experience in valuing Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art, Peter Brown has overseen sales which have ensured Christie’s dominance of this market. As head of department, Peter has led a team which has achieved many world auction records for Victorian artists including those for Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Millais, Holman Hunt and Leighton. He was closely involved in securing and selling the Forbes Collection of Victorian Pictures in 2003, which sold for a total of £17 million – the largest ever auction of Victorian art to date, in which 65 auction records were achieved. In July 2013 he co-ordinated an auction of Victorian Pictures that realised £22,201,975 /$33,547,184 /€25,598,878, the highest total ever achieved for the category. The top price was paid for a masterpiece by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt., A.R.A., R.W.S. (1833-1898), Love Among the Ruins, which sold for £14,845,875/$22,432,117/€17,117,294, setting a new world record price for the artist at auction (estimate: £3 – 5 million) and becoming the most expensive Pre-Raphaelite painting ever sold at auction. In June 2000, he discovered an unsigned and previously unidentified work by Sir John Everett Millais. Estimated at £60-80,000, the picture sold for £157,750. (Christie’s, London, 14 June 2000, lot 11). Most recently he helped orchestrate the sale of the Setton Collection in December 2020 which saw many pictures double their pre-sale estimates and achieve world record prices. Peter Brown holds a B.A. from Durham University, and is a graduate of Christie’s Education. He has worked with Christie’s since 1992 and is a Senior Director and International Specialist.
