Sotheby's puts up for auction on January 28 now "Beautiful Ferronera", which is one of the variants of the same name from the collection of the Louvre. His passionate painting was 100 years ago, being in the center of the big stories. What

Sotheby's has exhibited in New York auction on January 28 now, chronicled in one of the most high-profile trials early XX century works of art. This portrait of a woman, called "Beautiful Ferronera", which is one of the variants of the same name pictures stored in the Louvre. According to experts, it was painted by Leonardo da Vinci (Leonardo da Vinci) or one of his pupils, and the model was Lucrezia Crivelli (Lucrezia Crivelli), the mistress of the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza (Ludovico Sforza).

Option Louvre "Ferronery, which can be purchased at Sotheby's (estimate 300-500 thousand dollars) in 1920, received as a wedding gift to the American Harry Hahn (Harry Hahn) and his fiancée, a Frenchwoman, André (Andrée). Canvas got them from mother to Andre as a creation of Leonardo. He even confirmed the authenticity of a French expert, is not, however, a specialist in Italian Renaissance art.

After returning home, in Kansas City, Hannah decided to sell the painting Art Institute Kansas City, for 250 thousand dollars. But to do so they did not succeed. June 17, 1920 a journalist with New York World, having learned about the sale of paintings by Leonardo, called the well-known at that time an art expert Joseph Duvin (Joseph Duveen) and asked him to give their comments. Duvin declared the work of forgery, which was published in the New York Post. Because of this transaction Khans with the Institute of Art Kansas City and other potential buyers, of course, failed, and the couple are suing the Duvin, accusing him of libel and demanded from him 500 thousand dollars compensation.

In 1929, a lawsuit Andre Khan was considered by the Supreme Court of New York. Hannah tried to confirm the authorship of Leonardo, but Duvin insisted that it was only a later copy. He invited many distinguished experts, so that they supported his point of view, and look forward to an easy victory. However, when the trial started, it became clear that the jury did not set in his favor. Americans do not like the European experts, who as a confirmation of the attribution only expressed their own opinions, but were not given with any concrete evidence. As a result, the jury had not reached a consensus, but most of them still voted in favor of the Khans. As a result Duvin paid them 60 thousand dollars of compensation.

Despite the decision of the case in favor of the plaintiffs prevailing market opinion about the authenticity of the Belle Ferronery "Khans not changed. Duvin maintain its influence, and the picture was locked in a bank vault. In 1946, Harry Khan wrote a book The Rape of La Belle, which told about the trial and the attacks on Duvin "Ferroneru. In the second half of last century have made several attempts to sell the painting, but none of them did not succeed, and more work to the general public did not show.

However, disputes about who all the same is the author of this work, still going on. In 1993, the picture looked at one of the leading experts on creativity of Leonardo da Vinci, who came to the conclusion that it does not belong to brush this great artist. But he noted that "Ferronera" still has a considerable age, and suggested that it could be written in the first half of XVII century. A recent analysis of paint pigments confirms this assumption and suggests that the picture could be created by the French author or any other artist, to use French materials before 1750. Perhaps these new discoveries will finally release "Ferroneru" from nearly a century of critical attacks and neglect.

Material prepared Ekaterina Guseva, AI

Source: sothebys.com , artinvestment.ru