Fine Art Auction > Artworks from the collection of the late New York City literary agent Albert Zuckerman (1931–2026) will soon appear in two auctions at Christie’s London. On June 30 comes their Old Masters Evening Sale, and on the next day the Old Masters to Modern Day Sale: Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture.
Mixed into these sales will be fascinating artworks acquired by Zuckerman over the past 30 years. His remarkable career began at Yale Drama School, where he wrote a doctoral thesis on Hamlet, a project that launched his interest in theatre, and Shakespeare in particular. After teaching at Yale and Queens College and writing plays, novels, and even soap operas, Zuckerman founded a literary agency, Writers House, in 1975. There he helped authors crack the bestseller list, describing himself as a “midwife” to books. Among his famous clients were novelists Ken Follett and Dan Brown, and he himself authored a bestseller titled Writing the Blockbuster Novel.
In his spare time, Zuckerman restored two historic Manhattan buildings, furnishing them with William Morris wallpapers, period plasterwork, etched glass doors, and parquet floors. In keeping with their decor, he began to collect Victorian and 19th-century European art. His first purchase, in 1996, was the Englishman James Clarke Hook’s painting of Juliet’s conversation with her nurse. This scene from Romeo and Juliet harked back to Zuckerman’s training at Yale, and from there he began to pursue other Shakespearean scenes.
On offer this summer are intriguing paintings and drawings by such talented Britons as Walter Crane, Henry Treffry Dunn (after Dante Gabriel Rossetti), John Anster Fitzgerald, James Clarke Hook, Robert Huskisson, Daniel Maclise, Albert Moore, Henry Meynell Rheam, Henry Ryland, William Bell Scott, John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, and John Melhuish Strudwick. Also represented are the French masters Gustave Doré and Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer.
Given the success Christie’s enjoyed this past winter with other items from the Zuckerman collection (including Tiffany Studios lighting and furnishings and a William Blake drawing), we look forward to watching what happens this summer.
At a Glance:
Remembering a Great Collector
COLLECTION OF THE LATE ALBERT ZUCKERMAN
Christie’s, London
christies.com
June 30 & July 1, 2026
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Story prepared for the web by Cherie Dawn Haas, Editor of Fine Art Today
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