Getty Purchase Sets New Record
United Press International
July 08, 2010
A painting by the artist J.M.W. Turner, which has been owned by the same Scottish family for more than a century, is heading to a California museum.
The J. Paul Getty Museum bought “Modern Rome — Campo Vaccino” for nearly 30 million pounds ($45 million) at auction Wednesday night at Sotheby’s in London, The Scotsman reported. The price was the highest ever paid for a work by the English artist and nearly 10 million pounds ($15 million) above the previous record.
The painting, created in 1839, was bought in 1878 by the Fifth Earl of Rosebery and was owned by his descendants. It had been on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland for 30 years.
The family, which owns another Turner also on loan to the museum, decided to sell “Modern Rome” to provide funds for the upkeep of Dalmeny Estate, the Rosebery seat near Edinburgh.
The museum, involved in raising funds to keep two major Titians in the country, made no effort to buy the Turner.
George Gordon, an art expert at Sotheby’s, said Turner was a prolific artist and many of his works remain in Britain, especially a large collection in the Tate in London.
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