A LOST MASTERPIECE BY VENETIAN ARTIST TITIAN WHICH WAS ONCE OWNED BY KING CHARLES I AND WORTH MILLIONS WAS MISTAKENLY SOLD AT AUCTION FOR JUST £8,000 IT EMERGED RECENTLY. THE £4 MILLION 16th CENTURY PAINTING, SALOME WITH THE HEAD OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, WAS ORIGINALLY UNEARTHED DURING A HOUSE CLEARANCE IN 1993. ITS UNSUSPECTING OWNERS TOOK IT TO AUCTION HOUSE CHRISTIE'S IN LONDON WHERE THEY WERE TOLD IT WAS PROBABLY 'FROM THE SCHOOL OF TITIAN', BUT NOT BY THE HAND OF THE MASTER HIMSELF. ASSURED THAT CLEANING THE PAINTING WOULD BE AN UNNECESSARY EXPENSE DAVID SETON POLLOK-MORRIS DICKSON AND HIS SISTER SUSAN MARJORIE GLENCORSE PRIESTLEY AGREED UPON A VALUATION. WHEN IT WENT UNDER THE HAMMER 12 MONTHS LATER IN DECEMBER 1994 THEY WATCHED AS LOT 348 WAS SOLD FOR ITS RESERVE PRICE OF JUST £8,000. ONLY LATER AFTER THE PAINTING WAS SOLD AGAIN IN 2001, THIS TIME TO A MILAN-BASED PRIVATE COLLECTOR WAS ITS TRUE VALUE REVEALED. AND IRONICALLY, ALL IT TOOK WAS A LITTLE CLEANING. YESTERDAY DICKSON AND HIS SISTER REACHED AN OUT OF COURT SETTLEMENT WITH CHRISTIE'S AFTER LAUNCHING LEGAL ACTION AT THE HIGH COURT CLAIMING BREACH OF DUTY AND NEGLIGENCE. IN COURT PAPERS THEY ALLEGED THAT A SPECIALIST IN CHRISTIE'S OLD MASTER PICTURES DEPARTMENT HAD ORIGINALLY ASSESSED THE PICTURE AS 'WORTH STUDYING, COULD BE WRECK OF AN ORIGINAL?' BUT IN A LETTER PRIOR TO THE SALE, THEY SAID THEY WERE TOLD THAT IT WAS 'DOUBTFUL' THAT THE PAINTING, FOUND IN DICKSON'S HOME, WAS ACTUALLY A TITIAN. IN JANUARY LAST YEAR IT WAS PUT UP FOR AUCTION BY SOTHEBY'S AS PART OF A COLLECTION, WITH A GUIDE PRICE OF BETWEEN £2.6 MILLION AND £4 MILLION. SOTHEBY'S DESCRIBED IT AS A 'REMARKABLE PAINTING, IN WHICH THE SEDUCTRESS SALOME STRAINS UNDER THE WEIGHT OF JON THE BAPTIST'S SEVERED HEAD.' A HIGH COURT HEARING WAS DUE TO BEGIN YESTERDAY BUT AFTER LENGTHY NEGOTIATIONS AN AGREEMENT WAS REACHED AND THE CASE ADJOURNED.
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