'˜Greatest auction ever' as collection of David Rockefeller goes on display

Gallery assistants straighten Tigre jouant avec une tortue by Eugene Delacroix during a photo call for highlights from the collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller at Christie's in London.

As a few of the 1,500 works went on display in London yesterday, Christie’s was speculating that their sale might outrank even that of sale of Yves Saint Laurent’s personal collection. That raised $600m.

The money from the latest sale, which will take place in New York in May, will benefit the charities the Rockefeller dynasty supported.

David Rockefeller, who died last year at 101, was the youngest son of the philanthropist John D Rockefeller Jr, and the last surviving grandson of America’s first billionaire, the Standard Oil mogul John D Rockefeller Snr.

David was chairman of Chase Manhattan bank and the brother of Nelson Rockefeller, who served as vice-president to Gerald Ford.

The public preview of some of his collection, which runs at Christie’s in London until March 8 before moving to Paris, Beijing, Los Angeles, Shanghai and finally New York, renewed his long association with the British capital.

David had first come to the UK in the summer of 1932 as part of a grand tour that was a graduation present from his father. He travelled from Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands – stopping en route to attend a dinner dance at St James’s Palace with the Duke of York, the future King George VI.

The collection he and Peggy amassed encompasses paintings by Matisse and Monet and no fewer than 67 dinner services – including the one Napoleon took with him to exile on Elba in 1814.

Jussi Pylkkänen, Christie’s global president, said the sale would be the “greatest auction to take place of a single owner collection”.

David Rockefeller’s son, David Jr, has said he hopes many of the works will end up “in public spaces in museums”.