Hans Holbein-ml.
"Madonna Meyer Family" $ 70 million
Collector paid for "Madonna," Holbein the Younger over $ 70 million
German billionaire, philanthropist and collector Reinhold Wurth paid for a painting by Hans Holbein the Younger, "Madonna Meyer Family" ("Darmstadt Madonna") more than $ 70 million, reports Bloomberg. By agreement of the seller and the buyer the exact amount of the transaction were not disclosed. Wurth bought the painting from an aristocratic family of Hesse, which owes its origins to Charlemagne. For the transaction art dealer Christoph Graf Douglas called it the largest in the German art market, and the painting - the most important of all, sold in Germany after World War II. According to Douglas, the picture was interested in a lot of buyers, including Shtedelevsky Art Institute, where the "Madonna" exhibited in 2003, and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Shtedelevsky museum, in particular, was willing to buy the painting for 56.6 million dollars, but his proposal was rejected. "Those wishing to purchase this painting was a lot, but some wanted to take her out of Germany, and is prohibited by law. If the pattern was allowed to take abroad, I could sell it for 140 plus million dollars", - said Douglas. "Darmstadt Madonna" was painted by Holbein in the years 1525-1528 on order of the mayor of Basel. The painting, which is considered one of the great masterpieces of Northern Renaissance, depicts the mayor and his family at the feet of the Madonna and Child. Wurth has promised that the painting will be exhibited in public.
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