Christie's to Sell Largest Old Master Ever, Owned by William Randolph Hearst

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed)
Jan 25th 2010 at 11:02AM

Christie's will offer the largest Old Master painting ever to be put up for sale in the auction house's illustrious history in its Old Master & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings, & Watercolors event in New York on Jan. 27. Le Pont Sur Le Torrent, painted in the mid-1780s by Hubert Robert, measures over 20 feet wide by 13 feet high, and carries an estimate of $2 million - $3 million. Originally commissioned by the Duc de Luynes for the dining room of his mansion in Paris, in 1925 it was acquired at auction by William Randolph Hearst and once decorated the beachfront castle that the newspaper baron purchased in late 1927 in Sands Point, Long Island as a retreat for his wife Millicent. The awe-inspiring artwork has not been seen in public in more than 50 years.

Tags: Christies, Old Master, old masters, OldMaster, OldMasters, San Simeon, SanSimeon, William Randolph Hearst, WilliamRandolphHearst

Filed under: Auctions, Art

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Janice Rene Feb 5th 2010 8:25PM

The last time my portrait of the Queen of France was on public view was 225 years ago-the Queen was the last one to touch it. Who are the Hearsts? Dogcatchers?

Evan Labbe Feb 11th 2010 10:10AM

The Hearsts are bad people from the print industry in the depression era. They've caused america alot of lost money in the interests of protecting their coffers.
Paper, Cotton, and plastic would have all been replaced long ago by cheaper, cleaner, easier to produce hemp if it weren't for Mr Hearst. I'm not a stoner pushing for marijuana legalization, just a business minded person that knows that less expensive is almost always better (when balanced against quality). Hemp is better at being paper than wood is, better at being fabric than cotton is, and better at being plastic than chemicals are.
Shame on the Hearst family.