USA: LOUVRE MUSEUM BUYS 18TH CENTURY SCULPTURE FOR RECORD PRICE OF 4.8 MILLION DOLLARS
Record ID:
646819
USA: LOUVRE MUSEUM BUYS 18TH CENTURY SCULPTURE FOR RECORD PRICE OF 4.8 MILLION DOLLARS
- Title: USA: LOUVRE MUSEUM BUYS 18TH CENTURY SCULPTURE FOR RECORD PRICE OF 4.8 MILLION DOLLARS
- Date: 27th January 2005
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 27, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF SOTHEBY'S AUCTION HOUSE WITH SNOW ON STREET 0.05 2. CLOSE OF SOTHEBY'S SIGN 0.09 3. WIDE OF DIRECTOR EUROPEAN WORKS OF ART AT SOTHEBY'S, MARGARET SCHWARZ, LOOKING AT BUST OF 'ILL HUMOURED MAN' BY FRANZ XAVER MESSERSCHMIDT 0.16 4. CLOSE OF BUST AND SCHWARTZ 0.34 5. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) SCHWARZ SAYING: "The star of the show was a bust by Franz Messerschmidt, the Austrian court sculpture and that was estimated at three to five hundred thousand dollars and it made in the end an incredible four point eight two million dollars." 0.51 6. CLOSE OF 'ILL HUMOURED MAN' BUST 1.02 7. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) SCHWARZ SAYING: "This sculpture has now gone to the Louvre museum which is very exciting and I think that because it is an institution and will not move from that institution presumably, if there are any others to come up for... 1.25 8. VARIOUS BUST OF 'ILL HUMOURED MAN' (RIGHT) AND BUST OF 'INCAPABLE BASSOONIST' (LEFT) BY SAME ARTIST 1.44 9. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) SCHWARZ SAYING: "He is such a rare artist, there have never been pieces by Messerschmidt for auction, for sale at auction in the United States. Two busts came up for auction in 1985 at Sotheby's in London and that's it. Pieces from this series of so-called character heads by him have never come to auction and have rarely been seen in the trade, most of them are in Europe and will remain there in private collections or institutions." 2.14 10. VARIOUS SCHWARZ LOOKING AT 'ILL HUMOURED MAN' BUST 2.37 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 11th February 2005 12:00
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- Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA1DFQOWLIBM7FEP2Q5J3PY86H8
- Story Text: Louvre Museum in Paris buys Austrian bust for record
$4.8 million, ten times more than the estimate, at a New
York auction.
The Louvre Museum in Paris bought a bust by Franz
Xaver Messerschmidt on Thursday (January 27) for a
record-setting $4.8 million, roughly 10 times the expected
sale price, at Sotheby's in New York.
The piece, "Ill-Humored Man," fetched $4.83 million and
set an auction record for the 18th century artist and for
sculpture of the period, according to the auction house.
Director of European Works of Art at Sotheby's, Margaret
Schwarz, said the atmosphere in the auction room was
electric.
"It was estimated at 300,000-500,000 dollars and it made
in the end an incredible 4.8 million dollars," she said.
It is one of only 43 known busts from the Austrian
artist's series of uncommissioned character-heads created
in the 1770s.
While the largest collection of Messerschmidt is in
Vienna, others are found in European public institutions,
while fewer are in private collections and one is in the
Boston Museum of Fine Arts - and now the Louvre in Paris
has one.
Schwarz said, "This sculpture has now gone to the Louvre
museum which is very exciting and I think that because it
is an institution and will not move from that institution
presumably, if there are any others to come up for sale in
the future I think the prices could be even higher."
Messerschmidt worked for the Austrian court, creating
official portraits and several allegorical and religious
sculptures.
He began working on the character-heads around 1770 to
1772, a time when he began to suffer hallucinations and
paranoia. The character-heads are frequently studied in the field of
Au
strian baroque sculpture.
Another bust from the same series, the "Incapable
Bassoonist," also sold at auction for 2.48 million, ten
times the estimated price of about 250,000.
Schwarz said Sotheby's was so off on its estimates
because so few of Messerschmidt's works have ever come up
for auction, and never in the U.S.
She said, "He is such a rare artist, there have never
been pieces by Messerschmidt for auction, for sale at
auction in the United States,"
Schwarz added, "Two busts came up for auction in 1985 at
Sotheby's in London and that's it. Pieces from this series
of so-called character heads by him have never come to
auction and have rarely been seen in the trade, most of
them are in Europe and will remain there in private
collections or institutions."
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