pr:P1683
| - A painting thought to be a rare and important “lost” work by the 16th‐century German artist Matthias Grtlnewald has been disclosed by its owner, the Cleveland Museum of Art, to be a fake.The painting, depicting the Christian martyr St. Catherine of Alexandria, was purchased by the museum in ‘1974 for an undisclosed price ‘from a New York source. (Yesterday, reports in the trade put the price at between $1 million and 2 million and named the seller as Frederick Mont, a New York private dealer with offices on Park Avenue.)At the time of the phrchase, Sherman E. Lee, director of the Cleveland Museum, hailed the work as “a beautiful, mysterious painting, and of great historical importance.” He said that the picture had been “properly exported and its title guaranteed, and that's as far as we've gone.” The museum did not have the provenance of the picture —that is, the history of its ownership—but Dr. Lee said that it was obtainable. (en)
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