Masterpiece opened this weekend and there’s already a big sale announced by Colnaghi:

Colnaghi, the venerable firm of dealers in Old Master paintings and drawings located at 15 Old Bond Street, London W1, has sold a recently rediscovered and highly important Venus by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), one of the most iconic images by the artist, only to be compared with the Venus in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt, which it predates by one year.  It has been sold to the Princely Collections of Liechtenstein.  (Priced in the region of several million GBP.)

Cranach’s depictions of Venus have inspired a number of important modern and contemporary artists including Kirchner, Giacometti, Picasso and more recently John Currin.  The work was acquired from a private collection where it had been for over 150 years.