MOSCOW, October 28 (RIA Novosti) – Sotheby's, one of the world’s oldest and most famous auction houses, has found itself in a British High Court over a legal battle over an original Caravaggio oil painting it mistakenly sold in London as a copy for £42,000, London art network Artlyst reported.
The canvas “The Cardsharps”, which depicts a wealthy man falling prey to two cheats at a card table, was once attributed by the auction house to a 17th century follower of the Italian painter Caravaggio rather that to the master himself.
It was then sold through the auction house in 2006 to a British collector, Sir Denis Mahon, for the above sum. The collector however declared the painting to be an original and had valued it at £10 million.
The announcement prompted the previous owner of the Caravaggio painting, Mr. Thwaytes, to file a legal claim against Sotheby's, accusing the auction house of "professional negligence".
The Thwaytes family bought “The Cardsharps” in 1962 for £140.
In 2006, Thwaytes asked Sotheby's to value the work and the auction house concluded that the painting was one of several copies made of the original, which is on display at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.
In the 1950s, the Thwaytes family sold a genuine Caravaggio, “The Musicians”, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Now, Thwaytes suspects his version of “The Cardsharps” is also likely to be authentic.
Thwaytes has now accused Sotheby's of failing to thoroughly research the painting and consult outside experts before the sale, which apparently cost the seller many millions of pounds.
As Thwaytes and some of the world’s leading Caravaggio experts are set to present evidence at the trial, which is due to last four weeks, Andrei Strroganov, an art expert at the Russian Association of Art Critics (AIS-AICA) explained to Rossiya Segodnya that similar cases against the world’s leading auction houses are not rare.
Among the reasons, he said, is an intention to bring more attention to each particular art object to increase its value and popularity.
Authentic Caravaggio works are a rare find in the market, he said, and the auction house should have thoroughly checked its authenticity before putting it on sale.
In such disputes, Andrei Stroganov says, the sides invite a third party expert to research the canvas. If the painting is admitted as a genuine artwork by Caravaggio, it will remain with its new owner and its previous owner will be compensated.
Meanwhile, Sotheby's is defending its prior appraisal and has described suggestions the painting is worth £10 million as "preposterous".
