Word: koester
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Dealer Leonard F. Koester, the matter of the false Virgin had been a 6,000-guinea ($18,000) question, the price he paid a year ago for a similar Francia. Koester lined up his own art experts, including one who noted: "Your picture shows the fine crisp craquelure [cracks in the varnish] characteristic of many Renaissance paintings," and "the anatomy, e.g., of the Virgin's eye socket ... is better understood and more determinedly modeled." When the British press turned the dispute into a guessing game, the National Gallery decided it was time to put its Francia through a threefold...
...Philip Hendy there was only one way out. Last week he admitted the National Gallery's mistake. Said Sir Philip: "I think it is the only fake the National Gallery owns. But it is a fake." Art Dealer Koester promptly put his true Virgin on display in his St. James's gallery. Asking price: 18,000 guineas...