The Wall Street Journal Is Skeptical that a Modigliani Is Worth $100m

In a slightly odd take on the Christie’s announcement that it will be selling one of Modigliani’s coveted nudes, and a work that has not be displayed in public for decades nor ever sold at auction, the Wall Street Journal identifies the seller of painting but has some doubts about the $100m estimate even though Russian collector Dimitri Rybolovlev was happy to pay $118m (about what the $100m hammer price would amount to with fees) just a few years ago for a similar work. (Above)

Rybolovlev was a little less happy when he discovered the seller had parted with the work for less around $93m but that price still validates Christie’s $100m estimate:

Modigliani’s seller is the art historian Laura Mattioli Rossi, the daughter of acclaimed collector Gianni Mattioli, according to people familiar with the matter. At least 26 other works from the family’s collection are now displayed in the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice. Christie’s declined to comment on the identity of the seller.

It remains to be seen if this “Reclining Nude” can fetch more than $100 million, but the painting is certainly a sumptuous example of Modigliani’s signature style.

Christie’s Talks Up a Modigliani Nude  (WSJ)