John Constable's "The Lock" painting sold for record $35 millionJuly 4, 2012 - 13:05 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - A work by the English romantic painter John Constable has sold for £22,441,250 ($ 35 million), a world record price at auction for the artist, UK Press Association reported. The Lock, finished in 1824, is the fifth in a celebrated series of six large-scale paintings of the Stour Valley that Constable exhibited between 1819 and 1825. The painting, remarkable for its excellent state of preservation and from the collection of Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza, sold at Christie's in London. The auction house said the series of paintings defined Constable's artistic maturity and "represent a distillation of his profound emotional and artistic response to the scenery of his native Suffolk". Among the series are several of the artist's most renowned works, including The White Horse (1819; New York, The Frick Collection), and The Hay Wain (1822; London, National Gallery). The Lock was bought at the 1824 Royal Academy exhibition by James Morrison, who was the son of an innkeeper and who rose to become one of the wealthiest British merchants of the 19th century and an outstanding collector of old and modern masters. The Lock remained in the possession of his descendants until 1990. The Constable's latest buyer remained anonymous. On the night, sales totalled £85,057,100 for 54 lots sold. The selling price of The Lock included the buyer's premium. Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running” Partner news | Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. Aram I supports Karekin II’s “patriotic position” Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I has expressed support for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. |