Art Finds In Strange Places

The Daily Mail reports that as art by Picasso go, it might be considered a steal. The chance to own one of the great painter's works has come up - with a guide price of just £100,000. The seven and a half inch by four and three quarter inch watercolour shows the artist naked in bed with one of his many girlfriends. It is being sold by an anonymous private art collector, to the delight of the auctioneer who was called to value the painting along with works by two other well known artists. It is considered rare in the art world for works by artists of such repute to be sold by regional auction house instead of the famous companies of London and New York. But Duke's auction house in Dorchester, Dorset, is to sell the small watercolour by Picasso entitled "Etreinte" as well as equine paintings by the British artists George Stubbs and Sir Alfred Munnings. The sexually-charged Picasso piece depicts the artist and his lover in bed and was probably painted in 1901 or 1902 when the artist was in his early 20s. In 1969 the Spanish master was shown the painting and confirmed its authenticity on the reverse of the picture. He also recalled dedicating the cover of the sketchbook from which it came "Pour Louise". Louise Lenoir, known as Odette, is thought to have been Picasso's first girlfriend in Paris. The same auctioneer was responsible for finding art worth millions in the terraced house of the late spinster and art collector Jean Preston. At her home in Oxford they found a 19th century watercolour by the English painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the kitchen, and an oil painting by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, which was kept in the living room. Treasures already taken from the house include a rare edition of the works of Geoffrey Chaucer found under a cardigan in a wardrobe. It was later sold for £74,000. And hanging behind the door in the spare bedroom were two lost 15th century Fra Angelico paintings worth an astonishing £1.7million. Next month's auction by Duke's will include the work by Stubbs (1724-1806) which is thought to have been painted for John Thane, 10th Earl of Westmorland, who was Lord Privy Seal (1798-1806). The oil by Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959) is entitled "The Irish Grey Mare" and it retains the original giltwood frame by Townshends of Norwich. (For full source and full article click the Headline). Irish Art