In a small provincial French auction the sculpture was sold as «the work of an unknown artist». Art dealers Tomasi brothers found that the product met the famous Italian sculptor

In the past year in a small French auction for a sum equivalent to 800 pounds sterling, was sold to a bronze sculpture. Recently, she again appeared on the market, but now with the estimate of 3.8 million pounds. That is the year the price of it has grown to 4 750 times! How could this happen?

The fact is that the 35-cm sculpture turned out to be nothing more than the product itself Dzhamboloni (Giambologna), one of the greatest Italian sculptors of the era of the late Renaissance. Creativity Dzhamboloni (or Jean Bologna, as it is also called) is considered to be «link» between the High Renaissance sculpture (in particular, Michelangelo (Michelangelo)) and the Baroque Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini). At the end of XVI addressed Dzhamboloni thundered across Europe. His main clients were Florentine Medici princes, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the kings of France and Spain.

Small bronze statuettes Dzhamboloni is widespread: many sculptures continued to ebb after the death of the master. Castings made in the foundry shop, Antonio Susini (Antonio Susini), which worked as a sculptor, it is highly valued in the market: in 2005 at Christie's one copy left for 2.5 million pounds. The chances of finding an original, executed by the great sculptor, quite low. But some are still able to.

Dzhamboloni sculpture at auction I bought a French art dealer, who then resold the Tomasi her brothers from Leeds. «When I saw her picture, I am not very well imagine what this thing - says one of the brothers, Dino Tomasi (Dino Tomasso). - But when I saw her in the flesh, I realized that it was original. This can be understood by the color of patina - first it was a rich red-gold color, but over time it became brown. Late casting is also very good, but the original was a special quality of performance, it is not any confusion ».

Leading expert on creativity sculptor Andrew Butterfield (Andrew Butterfield) said: «I am studying Dzhambolonyu 30 years, and the cast - one of the most beautiful that I saw in my whole career». He adds that the statue could be related to two other works, one of which is stored in the museum of Vienna.

Sculpture called «Venus Urania», or «Heavenly Venus». The author has depicted the goddess with the attributes of astronomy: the drawing compass, ruler, and the celestial sphere.

From October 15 to November 1, found the value of the late Renaissance era can be seen at an exhibition in New York, Williams Moretti Irving Gallery. In addition to sculptures Dzhamboloni, there will be presented to other works of art, found the brothers Tomasi. Of the 43 sculptures that will appear in the exhibition, nearly half - bought for a song work, then find themselves creations of famous artists. For example, the exhibit number 1, the marble portrait of the ruler of Naples Ferdinand I of the Lorenzo Di Gregorio (Gregorio di Lorenzo), was the same as «Venus Urania», bought at a small auction in France. The exhibit number 2, terracotta bust of Christ, the sculptor atributiruetsya the end of XV century Anolo de Polo (Agnolo di Polo). At auction in the British province of «not recognized» and rated at 100 pounds. Now the sculpture is worth 41 thousand. It is through such discoveries and famous brothers Tomasi. They mainly work with private collectors and rarely buy at auctions, but each acquisition attracts attention to the professional art market. After all, these enterprising dealers have not only the undisputed «nyuhom» on masterpieces, but also a perfect circle of acquaintances, which is composed of leading experts in the art. They also have a researcher and an excellent library. Three years ago at an auction of works by old masters Shristie's brothers bought a portrait of a Lady playing on the harpsichord, for 265 thousand pounds. Then it turned out that this is an outstanding product of the Italian Baroque painter Annibale Carracci (Annibale Carracci). A long time, the brothers deal «in the shadow» and have been known only in a narrow range of professional art market, but now they have decided to show themselves publicly, and organized the first exhibition of works from their collections.

Sources: telegraph.co.uk , artinvestment.ru