CHRISTIE'S GALLERIES: AUCTION ROOM: AUCTION TIEPOLO'S "AN ALLEGORY OF VENUS ENTRUSTING EROS TO CHRONOS" :AUCTION OF REMBRANDT'S "SELF PORTRAIT". (NATSOF)




Initials LD/V/PW/OS



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Background: BRITAIN'S NATIONAL GALLERY AND THE LOS ANGELES MUSEUM OF ART TODAY (FRIDAY) PAID ALMOST GBP1,000,000 STERLING (2,400,000 DOLLARS) TO ADD ONE MAJOR PICTURE EACH TO THEIR COLLECTIONS. THE PAINTINGS WERE PART OF AN AUCTION HELD AT CHRISTIE'S IN LONDON.

IN THE FIRST PART OF THE SALE, MR. GEOFFREY AGNEW, BIDDING ON BEHALF OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY, BOUGHT FOR 390,000 GUINEAS (982,800 DOLLARS) AN OVAL CEILING PAINTING BY THE 18TH CENTURY ITALIAN ARTIST GIOVANNI BATTISTA TIEPOLO CALLED "AN ALLEGORY OF VENUS ENTRUSTING EROS TO CHRONOS". THE PICTURE, WHICH MEASURES 115 INCHES BY 75 INCHES (2.92 BY 1.90 METRES) WAS SENT FOR SALE BY THE UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC EMBASSY IN LONDON ALONG WITH FOUR SMALLER ALLEGORICAL GRISAILLES BY THE SAME ARTIST, BUT THEY WERE WITHDRAWN FROM THE SALE WHEN THEY FAILED TO REACH THE RESERVE PRICE. THE FIVE TIEPOLOS WERE IN THE EMBASSY BUILDING WHEN THE EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT BOUGHT IT IN 1923, BUT WERE NOT REDISCOVERED AND AUTHENTICATED UNTIL 1964.

IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE SALE, BOSTON ART DEALER ROBERT LIGHT, BIDDING FOR THE LOS ANGELES MUSEUM OF ART, BOUGHT FOR 460,000 GUINEAS (1,059,200 DOLLARS) A REMBRANDT "SELF PORTRAIT" PAINTED IN THE 1630S AND WHICH WAS LAST SOLD (ALSO AT CHRISTIE'S) IN 1884 FOR GBP1,890 STERLING. THE PAINTING, MEASURING 25 INCHES BY 20 INCHES (63.5 BY 51 CENTIMETRES), WAS SENT FOR SALE BY LT. COLONEL ARTHUR HEYWOOD-LONSDALE. IT WILL, IN THE AMERICAN MUSEUM, JOIN REMBRANDT'S PORTRAIT OF "TITUS" WHICH WAS SOLD AT CHRISTIE'S IN 1965 FOR A RECORD GBP788,000 STERLING (1,891,200 DOLLARS).