Doubtful da Vinci may make US$500,000
Source: Agencies |
January 14, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IS it or isn't it a painting by Leonardo da Vinci? That's the question that has been debated about "La Belle Ferronniere" for more than 80 years.
The portrait, thought to be of Lucrezia Crivelli who was a mistress of Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, was painted sometime before 1750 by a follower of the Renaissance master, according to Sotheby's, which will auction the work in New York on January 28.
The controversial work was the subject of a slander trial in the 1920s and two books. Adding to the intrigue, it has been locked away in a vault since about 1946.
Another version of the work in the Louvre museum in Paris is believed by experts to have been done by da Vinci or one of his pupils.
"I don't think anyone knows who did the painting," said George Wachter, Sotheby's co-chairman of the Old Master Painting Worldwide.
Harry Kahn, an American serviceman during World War I, and his French wife, Andree, received the painting in 1920 as a wedding gift from her grandmother. It was thought to have been done by Da Vinci and authenticated by a French art expert.
But when Hahn later tried to sell it to the Kansas City Art Institute in the United States for US$250,000, Joseph Duveen, a leading art dealer in London, told a reporter he was sure it was a fake.
The deal fell through and Hahn's wife sued Duveen for slander, claiming he was trying to control the art market. She asked for damages of US$500,000.
The jury failed to reach a verdict but Duveen settled out of court before a retrial, paying Hahn's wife US$60,000.
Sotheby's said it could sell for more than US$500,000.
The portrait, thought to be of Lucrezia Crivelli who was a mistress of Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, was painted sometime before 1750 by a follower of the Renaissance master, according to Sotheby's, which will auction the work in New York on January 28.
The controversial work was the subject of a slander trial in the 1920s and two books. Adding to the intrigue, it has been locked away in a vault since about 1946.
Another version of the work in the Louvre museum in Paris is believed by experts to have been done by da Vinci or one of his pupils.
"I don't think anyone knows who did the painting," said George Wachter, Sotheby's co-chairman of the Old Master Painting Worldwide.
Harry Kahn, an American serviceman during World War I, and his French wife, Andree, received the painting in 1920 as a wedding gift from her grandmother. It was thought to have been done by Da Vinci and authenticated by a French art expert.
But when Hahn later tried to sell it to the Kansas City Art Institute in the United States for US$250,000, Joseph Duveen, a leading art dealer in London, told a reporter he was sure it was a fake.
The deal fell through and Hahn's wife sued Duveen for slander, claiming he was trying to control the art market. She asked for damages of US$500,000.
The jury failed to reach a verdict but Duveen settled out of court before a retrial, paying Hahn's wife US$60,000.
Sotheby's said it could sell for more than US$500,000.
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