Goldie work expected to bring more than $500k

The oil on canvas of a Maori woman - Serenity, Harata Rewiri Tarapata - was painted by Goldie in Auckland in 1904. Photo / NZPA

An early painting by renowned New Zealand artist Charles Frederick Goldie could bring more than $500,000 when it goes up for auction in Auckland next month.

The oil on canvas of a Maori woman - Serenity, Harata Rewiri Tarapata - was painted by Goldie in Auckland in 1904. It was painted from a live sitting and not from a photograph like many of the artist's later works, said Richard Thomson, from the International Art Centre in Auckland.

The painting, which had been owned by the same family in Christchurch for nearly 40 years, was expected to bring between $350,000 and $550,000 at an auction in Auckland on July 14.

A Goldie owned by opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa recently sold for $573,000 and was not as good or as early as next month's offering, Mr Thomson said.

"It has the wow factor."

The sale would also include two works by Colin McCahon works which had never been on the market.

Kauri, painted between 1955 and 1957, was expected to bring up to $200,000, and House in The Trees, painted about the same time, between $90,000 and $140,000.

An oil on canvas by Milan Mrkusich, considered a major work and painted in 1965, was expected to bring up to $100,000, said Mr Thomson.

- NZPA