"Tiepolos"
Will Stay in
The
ANNOTICO Report
As a result it is
expected that the group of five will fetch 4 million euros (2.7
million pounds) at an auction,far below their
estimated international market price -- which could be around 10.6 -16 million
pounds, around 5 times as much.
OLD
MASTER TIEPOLO PROMISES ART BARGAIN FOR
Reuters
by
Sophie Hardach
MILAN (Reuters) -
Three perfectly preserved paintings by Old Master Giambattista
Tiepolo that have been hidden from public view for
centuries will go on sale for a fraction of their international market price
later this month.
The
snag?
They can never
leave
While that
considerably reduces the number of potential buyers, the fact that the
paintings have always stayed close to home is also part of their appeal.
The Tiepolos were commissioned by the Sandi family of lawyers
for their Venetian palazzo in the 1720s, and have remained in the same family,
which moved them to a villa in mainland
Auction house
Sotheby's will offer them for sale on May 30 and has shown them in
"They always
had the same owners so that was the first time they were shown to the
public," said Sotheby's spokeswoman Wanda Rotelli.
"That's also why they are so well preserved, it is really extraordinary."
The works are
part of a series of five paintings, two of which are by Nicolo
Bambini, depicting Greek and Roman myths as allegories on the power of
eloquence and virtue. Tiepolo's works are titled
"The Flaying of Marsyas", "Hercules
and Anteus", and "Ulysses discovering
Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes".
The
biggest Tiepolo painting measures 2.5 meters (8 ft)
by 5.2 metres.
Tiepolo was in his 20s when he
took on the commission, at the start of a career that made him one of the most
important Italian Rococo artists and took him to
Sotheby's will
offer the five paintings as a single lot and expects them to fetch 4 million
euros (2.7 million pounds) at the auction, which Rotelli
said was far below their estimated international market price -- which could be
around 10.6-16 million pounds.
She expected
private Italian collectors or museums to bid for the paintings, or banks
planning to make a donation -- although she also did not exclude that an
American millionaire might be looking for a nice addition for his Venetian
palazzo.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.
aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID
=2006-05-16T124534Z_01_L16214163_RTRUKOC
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