Scott Cantrell
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — Expected to bring bids in excess of $1 million, a circa 1700 painting owned by a Dallas family failed to sell Thursday, possibly a victim of the economic downturn.
The Vision of St. Bruno by Italian artist Sebastiano Ricci was part of a morning auction at Heritage Auction Galleries' Slocum Street annex.
The last time an important painting by Ricci went on sale, it drew $2.4 million. And there was particular interest in his portrayal of the 11th-century founder of the Carthusian monastic order because it was long thought lost.
In fact, the painting belonged to several generations of descendants from St. Louis attorney Charles Rannells. Rannells apparently acquired the canvas in an 1840s exchange for legal services to a fur trader, banker and brewer who helped equip the Meriwether Lewis and William Clark exhibition.
Heritage declined to identify the current owners.
"I think economic factors and others must have played a part," said Edmund "Ted" Pillsbury, chairman of fine and decorative arts at Heritage, of the no-sale. "But there's been tremendous interest in the painting, and we are sure, because of the importance and quality and beauty of the painting, it will find a home.
"It's a difficult moment for museums meeting their budget shortfalls, and dealing with losses in their endowments, not to mention the tightening of the credit markets for the art trade."
Location: SinglePost
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