Auction introduction: Christie’s is delighted to present Old Masters | New Perspectives: Masterworks from The Alana Collection featuring a curated survey of Late Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque paintings and sculpture as well as museum-quality Antiquities. Formed with great diligence and expertise over several decades, the Alana Collection comprehensively tells the story of the history and development of Italian art over the course of two millennia through works that are as prescient today as when they were created. A direct line can be drawn between their themes, technique and composition and those of contemporary artists. Despite the disparity of their media, artists like John Currin, Jeff Koons and Bill Viola each in their own way respond to the emotional content and humanity of Renaissance painting, works that Koons has described as ‘celebrating being alive and being human’. Given its contemporary appeal, in 2019-2020 the Collection gained international acclaim when nearly eighty highlights were exhibited at the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris.