BARBIE DESIGNED BY STEFANO CATURI SELLS FOR $302,500

THE MOST EXPENSIVE BARBIE IN THE WORLD, WITH JEWELS DESIGNED BY AUSTRALIA'S STEFANO CATURI, HAS BEEN SOLD AT CHRISTIE'S IN NEW YORK FOR $302,500. MATTEL COMMISSIONED CANTURI TO CREATE A FINGER-WIDE NECKPIECE AND TINY MATCHING RING TO PROMOTE ITS NEW BARBIE COLLECTION. THE JEWELERY SET FEATURES A NECKLACE MADE FROM THREE CARATS OF WHITE DIAMONDS SET AROUND A ONE CARAT, SQUARE EMERALD-CUT PINK DIAMOND. JEWELER STEFANO CANTURI ALSO DESIGNED THE DOLL'S BLACK STRAPLESS PARTY DRESS, PEEP-TOE STILETTOS AND TUMBLING BLONDE HAIR. 'I WANTED THE JEWELRY DESIGN TO PAY HOMAGE TO BARBIE'S MODERN YET TIMELESS STYLE OVER THE AGES', CANTURI SAID. THE DESIGN WAS INSPIRED BY CUBISM. THE CANTURI BARBIE NOW LEADS THE PACK OF MOST EXPENSIVE BARBIE DOLLS EVER MADE, FOLLOWED BY BARBIE AND THE DIAMOND CASTLE PROMOTIONAL BARBIE ($95,361). ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE ARE GOING TO AID BREAST CANCER RESEARCH.

POWIS CASTLE ACQUIRES SARGENT PORTRAIT

A UNIQUE PORTRAIT BY CELEBRATED AMERICAN ARTIST JOHN SINGER SARGENT HAS BEEN BOUGHT BY POWIS CASTLE. PORTRAIT OF THE HON. VIOLET LANE FOX, BARONESS DARCY DE KNAYTH, COUNTESS OF POWIS c.1910-14, BY SARGENT WAS BOUGHT WITH THE HELP OF A £25,000 GRANT FROM THE ART FUND TOWARDS A TOTAL OF £50,000. THE CHARCOAL DRAWING DEPICTS COUNTESS VIOLET, THE WIFE OF THE 4th EARL OF POWIS, WITH HER HAIR PULLED UP IN THE FASHIONABLE BOUFFANT STYLE OF THE TIME, LOOKING EXPECTANTLY TOWARDS HER LEFT. A GAUZE SCARF WRAPPED AROUND HER NECK ADDS STYLE AND GRANDEUR TO HER POSE. VIOLET IS DRAWN AS A STRONG INDIVIDUAL AND A TRUE EDWARDIAN ARISTOCRAT REFLECTING HER INDEPENDENT AND PERSUASIVE CHARACTER. PORTRAIT OF THE HON. VIOLET LANE FOX, BARONESS DARCY DE KNAYTH, COUNTESS OF POWIS HAD BEEN PART OF A PRIVATE COLLECTION UNTIL IT WAS BOUGHT FOR PUBLIC DISPLAY BY NATIONAL TRUST OWNED POWIS CASTLE. NOW ACQUIRED FOR NATIONAL TRUST'S PERMANENT COLLECTIONS, THE PORTRAIT HANGS IN THE LOWER TOWER BEDROOM, WHICH WAS COUNTESS VIOLET'S BEDROOM, AS THE MOST POWERFUL REPRESENTATION OF 20th CENTURY PORTRAITURE IN THE CASTLE'S IMPRESSIVE COLLECTION. OTHER GEMS AT THE CASTLE INCLUDE AN ELIZABETHAN MINIATURE OF LORD HERBERT OF CHIRBURY BY ISAAC OLIVER AND 19th CENTURY WORKS BY SIR FRANCIS GRANT. ONLY ONE OTHER PORTRAIT OF VIOLET HANGS IN THE CASTLE, A DEPICTION OF HER AS A YOUNG WOMAN. THE NEW ACQUISITION COMPLEMENTS THE YOUNGER PORTRAIT BY SHOWING HER IN HER LATER YEARS CONVEYING THE FORMIDABLE PERSONA SHE DEVELOPED.

HIGH MUSEUM OF ART RECEIVES GIFT OF 90 WORKS OF ART

THE HIGH MUSEUM OF ART, ATLANTA, TODAY ANNOUNCED THAT IT HAS RECEIVED A MAJOR GIFT OF 90 PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES FROM THE ATLANTA-BASED WEST FOUNDATION'S 19tH CENTURY AMERICAN COLLECTION. THE DONATED WORKS INCLUDE 49 PAINTINGS AND 41 SCULPTURES, ESTABLISHING THE HIGH AS A MAJOR RESOURCE FOR 19th CENTURY AMERICAN ART. THE GIFT ENRICHES THE HIGH'S COLLECTION OF AMERICAN ART WITH IMPORTANT WORKS INCLUDING LANDSCAPES BY FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH AND JASPER CROPSEY, PORTRAITS BY REMBRANDT PEALE AND WILLIAM SYDNEY MOUNT, AND SCULPTURES BY HIRAM POWERS AND CHAUNCEY BRADLEY IVES. BEGINNING 29.OCTOBER, THE NEWLY-ACQUIRED PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES WILL BE ON VIEW WITHIN THE PERMANENT COLLECTION GALLERIES ON THE SECOND AND THIRD FLOORS OF THE STENT FAMILY WING. THE WEST FOUNDATION'S GIFT OF NEO-CLASSICAL SCULPTURES CONSISTS OF 41 MARBLE, PLASTER AND BRONZE WORKS. THE MAJORITY OF THE WORKS ARE LARGE SCALE, NEO-CLASSICAL MARBLES EXECUTED BETWEEN 1838 AND 1887, INCLUDING MAJOR WORKS BY WILLIAM WETMORE STORY, HIRAM POWERS, EDMONIA LEWIS, HARRIET HOMER, THOMAS BALL, RANDOLPH ROGERS AND THOMAS CRAWFORD. THE GIFT INCLUDES ICONIC OBJECTS THAT REPRESENT THE CHIEF D'OEUVRE OF AN ARTIST'S PRODUCTION, SUCH AS HIRAM POWERS' 'PROSERPINE', RANDOLPH ROGERS' 'NYDIA THE BLIND FLOWER GIRL OF POMPEII', AND HARRIET HOSMER'S 'THE SLEEPING FAUN'. FOUR HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL PAINTINGS WERE GIVEN IN HONOUR OF HIGH MUSEUM OF ART DIRECTOR EMERITUS GUDMUND VIGTEL. VIGTEL, DIRECTOR OF THE HIGH FROM 1963 TO 1991, WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN ESTABLISHING THE MUSEUM'S AMERICAN COLLECTION AND SERVED AS AN ADVISOR FOR THE WEST FOUNDATION COLLECTION. IN ADDITION TO THE FOUR HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL PAINTINGS, 45 OTHER PAINTINGS WERE ALSO GIVEN IN HONOUR OF VIGTEL. THE COLLECTION FEATURES 24 LANDSCAPES, NINE GENRE PAINTINGS, EIGHT FIGURE AND PORTRAIT PAINTINGS, AND FOUR STILL LIFE PAINTINGS. ALL BUT THREE WERE EXECUTED BEFORE 1900, WITH THE STRONGEST CONCENTRATION OF WORKS PAINTED BEFORE 1880.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNEARTH 5,000 YEAR OLD DOOR

ARCHAEOLOGISTS IN THE SWISS CITY OF ZURICH HAVE UNEARTHED A 5,000 YEAR OLD DOOR THAT MAY BE ONE OF THE OLDEST EVER FOUND IN EUROPE. THE ANCIENT POPLAR WOOD DOOR IS 'SOLID AND ELEGANT' WITH WELL-PRESERVED HINGES AND A 'REMARKABLE' DESIGN FOR HOLDING THE BOARDS TOGETHER, CHIEF ARCHAEOLOGIST NIELS BLEICHER SAID WEDNESDAY. USING TREE RINGS TO DETERMINE ITS AGE, BLEICHER BELIEVES THE DOOR COULD HAVE BEEN MADE IN THE YEAR 3,063 BC, AROUND THE TIME THAT CONSTRUCTION ON BRITAIN'S WORLD FAMOUS STONEHENGE MONUMENT BEGAN. 'THE DOOR IS VERY REMARKABLE BECAUSE OF THE WAY THE PLANKS WERE HELD TOGETHER', BLEICHER TOLD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. HARSH CLIMATIC CONDITIONS AT THE TIME MEANT PEOPLE HAD TO BUILD SOLID HOUSES THAT WOULD KEEP OUT MUCH OF THE COLD WIND THAT BLEW ACROSS LAKE ZURICH, AND THE DOOR WOULD HAVE HELPED, HE SAID. 'IT'S A CLEVER DESIGN THAT EVEN LOOKS GOOD.' THE DOOR WAS PART OF A SETTLEMENT OF SO-CALLED 'STILT HOUSES' FREQUENTLY FOUND NEAR LAKES ABOUT A THOUSAND YEARS AFTER AGRICULTURE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY WERE FIRST INTRODUCED TO THE PRE-ALPINE REGION. IT IS SIMILAR TO ANOTHER DOOR FOUND IN NEARBY PFAEFFIKON, WHILE A THIRD, MADE FROM ONE SOLID PIECE OF WOOD, IS BELIEVED TO BE EVEN OLDER, POSSIBLY DATING BACK TO 3,700 BC, BLEICHER SAID. THE LATEST FIND WAS DISCOVERED AT THE DIG FOR WHAT IS INTENDED TO BE A NEW UNDERGROUND CAR PARK FOR ZURICH'S OPERA HOUSE. ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE FOUND TRACES OF AT LEAST FIVE NEOLITHIC VILLAGES BELIEVED TO HAVE EXISTED AT THE SITE BETWEEN 3,700 AND 2,500 YEARS BC, INCLUDING OBJECTS SUCH AS A FLINT DAGGER FROM WHAT IS NOW ITALY AND AN ELABORATE HUNTING BOW.

TOMASSO BROTHERS FINE ART PRESENTS SCULTURA III

A TENDER DEPICTION OF THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH THE YOUNG ST JOHN THE BAPTIST BY BENEDETTO DA MAIANO IS AMONG THE MAJOR PIECES OF EUROPEAN SCULPTURES PRESENTED BY TOMASSO BROTHERS FINE ART, NEW YORK, IN THEIR THIRD ANNUAL NEW YORK EXHIBITION, SCULTURA III, AT OTTO NAUMANN, 22 EAST 80th STREET, FROM 21-31.OCTOBER. THE BEAUTIFULLY PRESERVED STUCCO RELIEF NOT ONLY RETAINS MOST OF ITS ORIGINAL POLYCHROME DECORATION BUT IS ALSO IN ITS ORIGINAL FRAME, AND HAS AN ASKING PRICE OF $225,000. BENEDETTO DA MAIANO WAS ONE OF THE MOST ACCOMPLISHED MARBLE SCULPTORS IN 15th CENTURY FLORENCE, WHOSE WORKS INFLUENCED SUCH HIGH RENAISSANCE ARTISTS AS ANDREA SANSOVINO AND MICHELANGELO. DA MAIANO WAS ASSOCIATED WITH ANTONIO ROSSELLINO AND CONTINUED HIS TRADITION OF FINE MARBLE CARVING FOR CHAPELS, TOMBS, PULPITS AND PORTRAIT-BUSTS. NARRATIVE RELIEFS WERE BENEDETTO'S FORTE, FOR EXAMPLE THOSE ON THE PULPIT OF SANTA CROCE, FLORENCE, AND HE PRODUCED MANY CHARMING COMPOSITIONS OF THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. THE EXTREMELY SKILLFUL LEVEL OF PAINTING ON THE RELIEF SUGGESTS IT WAS BY THE RENOWNED NERI DI BICCI. THE VIRGIN'S CLOTHING HAS STAMPED ORNAMENTS TO ENLIVEN THE GILDING, COMPARABLE WITH THOSE USED ON PANEL PAINTINGS OF THE PERIOD, WHILE OTHER TEXTILES HAVE BEEN PAINTED IN THE TECHNIQUE KNOWN AS AL ESTOFADO, WHEREBY CERTAIN AREAS OF GILDING WERE COVERED WITH FINE LINES OF WAX SO THAT WHEN THE RED PAINT WAS APPLIED OVER THE VIRGIN'S DRESS, OR GREYISH WHITE OVER HER VEIL, THE WEAVE OF THE FABRIC WAS REVEALED AS THE WAX WAS REMOVED. ELSEWHERE AN ALTERNATIVE TECHNIQUE OF DELICATE SCRATCHING WAS USED, FOR EXAMPLE ON THE GREEN HEM OF THE VIRGIN'S GOLDEN CLOAK, AND THE CLOTH IN WHICH SHE HOLDS THE BABY JESUS.

ICONIC CHELSEA HOTEL TO BE SOLD

THE NEW YORK HOTEL THAT INSPIRED CREATIVE TALENT FROM SIR ARTHUR CLARKE TO SID VICIOUS IS UP FOR SALE. THE CHELSEA HOTEL, CONTROLLED PRIMARILY BY THREE FAMILIES THAT HAVE OWNED IT FOR 65 YEARS, WILL REMAIN A HAVEN FOR STRUGGLING ARTISTS DESPITE CHANGING HANDS, A HOTEL SPOKESMAN SAID ON TUESDAY. 'THE HISTORY ITSELF MAKES THE HOTEL WHAT IT IS', SAID THE SPOKESMAN, LOREN RIEGELHAUPT. 'ANYBODY WHO'S GOING TO BE LOOKING TO BUY THE CHELSEA KNOWS THAT THE CHELSEA IS THE CHELSEA, AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU WANT TO DO TO CHANGE WHAT THE CHELSEA IS', HE SAID, ADDING THAT THERE WAS NO ASKING PRICE. A PARTIAL LIST OF THOSE WHO STAYED THERE INCLUDES WRITERS AS CLARKE, O HENRY AND THOMAS WOLFE, PLAYWRIGHT ARTHUR MILLER, ARTIST ANDY WARHOL AND MUSICIANS JANIS JOPLIN, JIMI HENDRIX AND JIM MORRISON. PUNK ROCKER SID VICIOUS OF THE SEX PISTOLS KILLED HIS GIRLFRIEND NANCY SPUNGEN THERE IN 1978 IN A DRUG-INDUCED STUPOR, AND THE CHELSEA HOTEL IS WHERE BOB DYLAN, ACCORDING TO HIS OWN LYRICS, WROTE 'SAD-EYED LADY OF THE LOWLANDS'. THE 12 FLOOR, 250 ROOM HOTEL WAS BUILT IN 1883 ON 23rd STREET BETWEEN SEVENTH AND EIGHTH AVENUES, A PART OF TOWN CALLED CHELSEA THAT WAS A THEATER DISTRICT AT THE TIME. NOW IT IS HOME TO A CONCENTRATION OF ART GALLERIES AND IS ONE OF THE CITY'S BEST-KNOWN GAY DISTRICTS. UPKEEP OF THE OLD BUILDING REQUIRED A $2 MILLION TO $3 MILLION INVESTMENT IN RECENT YEARS TO RENOVATE 25 ROOMS AND THE LOBBY, RIEGELHAUPT SAID. THE PROPERTY IS SPLIT BETWEEN TRANSIENT HOTEL ROOMS AND RESIDENTIAL UNITS. 'NOW II IS TIME TO LET A NEW OWNER, WITH PERHAPS SOME NEW INNOVATIVE IDEAS AND RESOURCES, TO RE-ENERGIZE AND REVITALIZE THE CHELSEA', SAID PAUL BROUNSTEIN, A SHAREHOLDER AND BOARD MEMBER OF THE HOTEL, IN A STATEMENT. FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS THE HOTEL WAS MANAGED BY STANLEY BARD, A MEMBER OF ONE OF THE OWNERSHIP FAMILIES, WHO WAS OUSTED BY THE BOARD IN 2007. IT WAS BARD WHO DECIDED WHICH STRUGGLING ARTISTS DESERVED A BREAK ON THE RENT AND WELCOMED THE HIPPIES AND PUNKS REJECTED ELSEWHERE. HE NEVER MINDED WHEN ARTISTS SLOSHED PAINT ON THE WALLS AND FLOORS OF THEIR STUDIO APARTMENTS.

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART PRESENTS 'ITALY OBSERVED: VIEWS AND SOUVENIRS, 1706-1899'

IN THE 18th CENTURY, PRIVILEGED EUROPEANS EMBARKED ON THE GRAND TOUR, TRAVELING PRINCIPALLY TO SITES IN ITALY, WHERE THEY VISITED CHERISHED RUINS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD AND SPLENDID ARCHITECTURE OF THE RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE ERAS. THE INFLUX OF THESE TRAVELERS TO DESTINATIONS NORTH AND SOUTH, VENICE, ROME, AND NAPLES IN PARTICULAR, LED TO A FLOWERING OF TOPOGRAPHICAL PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS AND PRINTS BY NATIVE ITALIANS SERVING A FOREIGN MARKET EAGER TO RETURN HOME WITH PICTURES AND SOUVENIRS. ITALY OBSERVED: VIEWS AND SOUVENIRS, 1706-1899, CURRENTLY ON VIEW AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK, THROUGH 2.JANUARY, SHOWCASES A SELECTION OF THE RICH HOLDINGS OF ITALIAN VEDUTE (VIEWS) COLLECTED BY ROBERT LEHMAN. FROM THE PAINTINGS OF VENETIAN LIFE BY LUCA CARLEVARIS TO THE NEAPOLITAN ALBUM OF GOUACHE DRAWINGS DOCUMENTING THE ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS IN 1794 TO SKETCHES AND WATERCOLOURS OF ITALIAN ANTIQUITIES, THE INSTALLATION CAPTURES THE ARTIST'S ROMANTIC ATTRACTION TO ITALY AND ITS IRRESISTIBLE ROMAN HERITAGE. IT ALSO INCLUDE VARIOUS MARKETED SOUVENIRS, EXQUISITE FANS, SPOONS, TEAPOTS AND POCKET-WATCHES ON LOAN FROM THE MUSEUM'S DEPARTMENT OF EUROPEAN SCULPTURES AND DECORATIVE ARTS. ITALY OBSERVED IS DIVIDED INTO THREE SECTIONS: VENICE, ROME AND NAPLES. THE BRITISH ELITE CONSTITUTED THE LARGEST PERCENTAGE OF GRAND TOURISTS, AND THEIR FASCINATION WITH VENICE AND ITS SURROUNDING LANDSCAPES FUELED THE VEDUTE MARKET. ARTISTS LIKE LUCA CARLEVARIS, CANALETTO, BERNARDO BELLOTTO AND FRANCESCO GUARDI PRODUCED VEDUTE OF THE VENETIAN GRAND CANAL. IN ROME, WEALTHY ARISTOCRATS COMMISSIONED ARTISTS SUCH AS POMPEO BATONI TO PAINT THEIR PORTRAITS SURROUNDED BY IMAGERY OF THE COLISEUM, PALATINE HILL, SAINT PETER'S BASILICA AND OTHER EMBLEMATIC SOUVENIRS OF THE GRAND TOURIST CULTURE. WHILE THE PHENOMENON OF THE GRAND TOUR DECLINED DURING THE NAPOLEONIC WAR, DUE TO THE DANGERS OF TRAVEL ABROAD, ITALY CONTINUED TO PRODUCE FINE MEMENTOS OF ITS SPLENDID MONUMENTS RIGHT THROUGH THE 19th CENTURY, AND INDEED TO THIS VERY DAY.