A Pontormo, Taken Back From Salander, Is Sold
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London old master dealer Clovis Whitfield said he has sold a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Pontormo, priced at $16 million.
Pontormo (1494-1556) was one of the leading exponents of the so-called “Mannerist” style in early 16th-century Florence.
The artist’s 19-inch-high oil-on-panel portrait of the banker’s daughter Francesca Capponi as St. Mary Magdalene is one of 20 old master paintings being exhibited by Mr. Whitfield at Partridge Fine Arts in New Bond Street.
The Pontormo was one of the works that Mr. Whitfield was due to show at the Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, last October. The gallery was locked under a court order hours before the exhibition was set to open, and Mr. Whitfield took back the works he’d been intending to display. Lawrence Salander filed for personal bankruptcy protection on November 5.
Mr. Whitfield, speaking in a telephone interview, said that about half the works at Partridge came from the aborted Salander-O’Reilly show. The Pontormo was bought by a private American collector soon after the London exhibition opened on June 4, he said. It runs through July 18.
“The sale bucks a trend,” said Mr. Whitfield. “It shows that even when the auction houses are so dominant and galleries are closing down, old master dealers can still sell major works.”
