Records topple at art auction

Press, 23 June 1978, Page 6

Records topple at art auction

NZPA-Reuter London More record-breaking I prices have been recorded at! the art sale of the century! '.where, with six more ses-| Ijsions to go, collectors and 1 museums had already spent' 11 £4,358.400 ($8,063,040) bv! lithe end of the second day. rl The sale of the late Rob-1 -.ert von Hirsch’s legendary) si art collection, which ends) •'next Tuesday, was quickly] f expected to surpass the pre-' ivious world record of v; £6,300.000 sterling -■(511,655,000) set last year at nan auction of paintings and furniture from Mentmore, sione of Britain’s stately i/bomes. Sotheby’s had forecast] 11 that the von Hirscb collec-' tion would total at least! t£BM ($14,800,000), but ‘he; •price levels in the first two! sessions should push this to! |£l2M (S22M). ' The top price on the sec-' iond day was £-500.000; |(8925,000) paid by the Nor-; [ton Simon Foundation of! i California for the Branchinii I Madonna by the fifteenth' century Sienese master, Giovanni di Paolo. It is an ex-jl Iquisite altarpiece against a 'gold background, showing . ; the Virgin holding the Christ j tchild among roses, corn- , I flowers, and marigolds. ( It was a world-record | price for this artist, and t i similar records were estab- < I lished for paintings by sev- « 'era! other masters. At Sotheby’s rooms inl< Bond Street, crystal chande-! '■

liters, glittered beside the 1 (glowing numbers on an elec-! ironic board as the auction-1 jeer, Peter Wilson, knocked!! ihis ivory hammer down on! i prices well above the esti-p (mates. They dramatically! l I proved his argument that art ’ lvalues are rising as the;' ’value of money declines. 1 i A 16cm by 21cm Dureril (watercolour bought for t $1.15M has established a I i record as the most expensive picture in the world ] per square centimetre, The ■ sale is not expected to pass I the world record for a single < painting, $5.5M for a Velas- ■ quez portrait, because von < Hirsch, who fled the Nazis i* in 1933, preferred small and ! (intimate paintings. t