Christie’s auction will return money to the Russian oligarch

Christie’s auction house will have to pay a fine of £ 2.7 million after the Supreme Court ruled that a painting sold to a Russian oligarch could be fake.

Victor Vekselberg, one of the richest people on the planet, paid 1.7 million pounds for Odalisque - a portrait of a naked woman attributed to Boris Kustodiev.

“Odalisque,” attributed to Kustodiev

The price was ten times higher than the preliminary estimate and, according to court representatives, showed "pure absurdity" in the art market.

In 2005, shortly after the purchase took place, experts working with Vekselberg’s Aurora Art Fund began to raise doubts about the authenticity of the work. They claimed that Kustodiev’s signature, dated 1919, was made with aluminum-based pigment, which did not exist during the life of the artist, who died in 1927.

Vekselberg filed a lawsuit against Christie’s, and today the judge decided to return the entrepreneur 1.7 million paid for the painting. Additionally, Christie will have to pay 1 million pounds of costs.

After a twenty-day hearing, Judge Neview dismissed allegations that Christie’s had been negligent or changed the picture. At the same time, he noted that his task was to determine the authenticity of the canvas. In the course of his investigation, the judge concluded that Odalisque was not written by Kustodiev. As a result, Aurora gained the right to cancel the transaction and receive a refund.

Christie’s noted that they were “surprised and disappointed” by the verdict. Also, the spokeswoman noted that the representatives of the auction insist on the authenticity of the canvas.

At the trial, lawyers, citing a reliable source, indicated that the painting depicted a chair that belonged to the artist. They also noticed that the pigment used for signature already existed in 1919, but, in fact, did not receive wide distribution until the thirties.

For the first time, the picture went under the hammer at Christie’s in 1989 for 19 thousand pounds. And by 2005, its estimated value rose to 180-220 thousand. The final price of 1.7 million was called an economic boom, but even then, the collector of Russian art, Natalia Kournikova, who also bargained for this picture, called such a high price "pure absurdity."

Christie’s experts claim that the painting was painted for a quick sale, because the artist was already confined to a wheelchair. He badly needed money to support his family during the time of post-perestroika Petrograd.

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