Post by Taxigirl on Nov 25, 2004 9:26:35 GMT
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4039075.stm
The Wise and Foolish Virgins was the top lot from Getty's collection
A collection of artworks owned by John Paul Getty II has sold for a total of £1.7m at Christie's in London.
The highest price fetched was £386,050 for Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones' The Wise and Foolish Virgins.
Oil billionaire Getty, who died last year aged 70, was a major art collector and benefactor who donated millions to various art institutions.
The works were sold as part of a British and Irish art sale which made a total of £4.04m.
Forty works of art, including 21 Getty-owned paintings, were up for auction as part of the sale.
Rossetti's The Annunciation sold for £106,050
Tragic tale
The top lot overall was Sir George Clausen's The Gleaners, which sold for £710,850.
Other items from Getty's collection included three works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Desdemona's Death Song, sold for £318,850.
The black chalk painting depicts Desdemona attended by her maid Emilia preparing for bed, as she sings the "willow song" only to be murdered by her husband, Othello, in a fit of jealousy.
Several paintings broke world record prices for their art, including Ford Madox Brown's The Last of England, which was sold to Andrew Lloyd Webber for £206,850.
Lord Lloyd-Webber said he was "delighted to have acquired this Pre-Raphaelite masterpiece after many years of trying".
John William Godward's The Signal was another record-breaker. It went to an anonymous buyer for £184,450.
The Wise and Foolish Virgins was the top lot from Getty's collection
A collection of artworks owned by John Paul Getty II has sold for a total of £1.7m at Christie's in London.
The highest price fetched was £386,050 for Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones' The Wise and Foolish Virgins.
Oil billionaire Getty, who died last year aged 70, was a major art collector and benefactor who donated millions to various art institutions.
The works were sold as part of a British and Irish art sale which made a total of £4.04m.
Forty works of art, including 21 Getty-owned paintings, were up for auction as part of the sale.
Rossetti's The Annunciation sold for £106,050
Tragic tale
The top lot overall was Sir George Clausen's The Gleaners, which sold for £710,850.
Other items from Getty's collection included three works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Desdemona's Death Song, sold for £318,850.
The black chalk painting depicts Desdemona attended by her maid Emilia preparing for bed, as she sings the "willow song" only to be murdered by her husband, Othello, in a fit of jealousy.
Several paintings broke world record prices for their art, including Ford Madox Brown's The Last of England, which was sold to Andrew Lloyd Webber for £206,850.
Lord Lloyd-Webber said he was "delighted to have acquired this Pre-Raphaelite masterpiece after many years of trying".
John William Godward's The Signal was another record-breaker. It went to an anonymous buyer for £184,450.