The naked young woman stands in the room waiting.

Her body is turned towards the viewer, her gaze seems absent.

"Lisl in the artist's studio" is the explanation for the title "At the window" of the 1920 oil painting by Leo Putz;

it shows the preferred model of these years of the South Tyrolean painter.

With an expectation of 40,000 to 60,000 euros, the captivating depiction leads Van Ham's offer on ancient art, which will be called up on May 19 in Cologne.

From the private collection of Dirk and Ursula Budde there are around twenty paintings by the Düsseldorf school of painting, including six still lifes by Johann Wilhelm Preyer and his daughter Emilie, which are fresh from the market and are a wonderful illustration of the different approaches to the same subject: While the father is working academically and representatively, he is approaching his daughter approaches the motifs more freely and emotionally (estimates 20,000 to 45,000 euros).

17 of the 250 lots offered are works by the Achenbach brothers, of whom the elder, Andreas, mainly painted the Dutch coast with stormy seas (8000/15,000), and the younger, Oswald, devoted himself to the Campanian landscape around Naples (10,000/35,000) .

Amongst Van Ham's Old Masters, Hans Burgkmair's wooden panel depicting Christ on the cross is particularly impressive.

It was part of the All Saints' retable, which Burgkmair created in 1507 for the convent of St. Catherine in Augsburg and which is now in the State Gallery in Augsburg in St. Catherine's Church.

No painting by Burgkmair has been offered at auction for more than fifty years.

The 90 by 60 centimeter Renaissance work is estimated at 30,000 to 40,000 euros.

Overall, the "Fine Art" auction at Van Ham should bring in 1.5 million euros.

Two days later, Lempertz holds his event with old art and works from the 19th century in Cologne.

The highlight is the Madonna of the Rosary by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, which he created for the Carmelite monastery in his hometown of Seville.

The canvas with the representation of the Blessed Mother, on whose lap the baby Jesus is sitting playing with a rosary, measures 167 by 112 centimetres.

The Spanish artist made a total of four versions of this motif, two of which are particularly similar.

One has been there since 1822 as a gift from Grand Duke Ferdinand III.

of Lorraine in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, the second and only signed version is now being called up for an estimate of one to 1.5 million euros.

Maarten van Heemskerck's wooden panel "The Holy Trinity" is expected to fetch 200,000 to 250,000 euros, as is Jan Miense Molenaer's Peasant Wedding at its auction debut.

Jan van Goyen is represented with one of his atmospherically calm river landscapes in typical sepia tones (100,000/130,000).

A tondo by Tommaso di Credi shows the Madonna with Christ Child and St. John and was created around 1500 to 1510. The painting has been in a southern German private collection since the 19th century and is now going under the hammer at an estimate of 70,000 to 80,000 euros.

Joos van Winghe's pretty Allegory of Fama is one of fourteen works from the Deli collection in Monaco, the proceeds of which, including commissions, will be donated by Lempertz to humanitarian aid in Ukraine (70,000/90,000).

Among Lempertz's 119 lots from the 19th century, two views of Venice by Friedrich Nerly are among the most attractive (40,000/70,000).

Ettore Simonetti's lively portrayal of an amphora dealer in a bazaar (200,000/250,000) leads the way in price.

The painting, measuring 61 by 100 centimetres, is being auctioned for the first time from a private collection in Santiago de Chile.

The expectations for Lempertz' auctions amount to a total of 5.7 million euros.