Displaying items by tag: Auctioned

Paris’ legendary Ritz hotel, which is currently undergoing a major $267.5 million renovation, has been unknowingly sheltering a 17^th century masterpiece. The work, which is believed to be by the French painter and court artist of Louis XIV, Charles Le Brun (1619-1690), was first spotted by Olivier Lefeuvre, a specialist in the period at Christie’s France. Upon seeing the painting in July, a month before the Ritz closed its doors for two years worth of renovations, Lefeuvre knew that the work had to be a Le Brun. Initials reading “CLBF,” which stands for Charles Le Brun Fecit (Le Brun did this) and a date, “1647,” were found on the work, supporting Lefeuvre’s hunch.  

How the painting ended up in the Ritz remains a mystery, as the hotel archives lack any reference to the work. While Christie’s has been unable to track down any record of the painting, officials have no doubt that the work is an authentic Le Brun. The painting, which depicts the killing of Trojan princess Polyxena after she was linked to the death of Achilles, was renamed The Sacrifice of Polyxena by Christie’s.

The Le Brun painting will be auctioned by Christie’s in Paris in April 2013 and could raise as much as $665,000 for the foundation established by owner Mohamed Al Fayed in memory of his son Dodi, the late boyfriend of Princess Diana. Dodi and Diana dined at the Ritz before their fatal car accident in 1997.

The painting will go on display at Christie’s New York location next week.

Since January experts at Sotheby’s have been trying to privately sell a suite of four bronze sculptures of a woman’s back that Matisse created over a period of 23 years beginning in 1908. The works belong to the Burnett Foundation in Forth Worth, and at the time the sale was announced, neither Sotheby’s nor the foundation would say what the asking price was, although dealers approached by the auction house reported that they were hoping for around $200 million for all four.

Now, as the fall auction season approaches and the sculptures remain unsold, Sotheby’s is announcing that it will auction the four works separately — in chronological order — over the next year, starting with the earliest and most classical of them all, “Back I,’’ which will be included in its Impressionist and modern art auction in New York on Nov. 2. It is estimated to bring $20 million to $30 million.

The foundation decided to sell the sculptures in November after another cast of the fourth back in the series brought $48.8 million at Christie’s. It was then, officials for the foundation said, that they realized the value of the four works far exceeded anything that could justify owning them, since its mission is to support health, education, human services and arts initiatives mostly in the Fort Worth area.