Turner painting may make auction record
Published April 6th, 2006
A Turner masterpiece is likely to set a new world record for a British painting sold at auction when it goes under the hammer in New York today.
Experts believe the painting of Venice – entitled Giudecca, La Donna della Salute and San Giorgio – could fetch more than $20 million (£11.2 million) at Christie’s.
The record for the most expensive British painting to be auctioned is currently held by Constable’s The Lock, sold for 21,153,800 dollars (about £12 million) in 1990.
Described as the finest Old Master to be sold at Christie’s in New York since 1989 and a perfect example of his Venetian subjects, the Turner is one of three oil paintings produced by the artist for the Royal Academy of Arts Exhibition of 1841.
It is based on a series of watercolours he painted on what would be his last trip to the Italian city the previous year.
The painting is being offered for sale by the St Francis of Assisi Foundation in New York State, a not-for-profit missionary organisation.
The Turner was purchased from the 1841 Exhibition by Elhanan Bicknell for 250 guineas, before being sold at Christie’s in 1863 for 1,650 guineas. In 1897, the painting returned to the auction house and went under the hammer for 6,800 guineas to Sir Donald Currie.
His grandson sold it through Agnew’s to William Wood Prince in 1959 for an undisclosed sum and the work returned to Agnew’s in 1992 to be sold to a private collector, who in turn donated the picture to the St Francis of Assisi Foundation.
