A lost treasure. Bought in a small shop in London in the 1960s, Peter Watson’s chandelier, by the famous Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti, will be auctioned at the end of February, announced Christie’s, we can read in the columns of the guardian and newspaper the independent.
The object is worth between 1.5 and 2.5 million pounds (1.7 and 2.8 million euros). However, it had been bought by the painter John Craxton for just 250 pounds (280 euros).
Lost in the late 1940s
“In 1946-1947, the British collector Peter Watson (1908-1956) commissioned a chandelier from Alberto Giacometti during a trip to Europe,” says the specialized media Savoir des Arts.
But the object disappears from circulation three years later, finally ending up by chance in a London antique dealer. John Craxton went there in the 1960s and, recognizing Giacometti’s touch, bought the chandelier. He installed it in his living room for decades, until his death in 2009.
His heirs decide to authenticate it, and the Paris-based Giacometti Foundation decides: the work was indeed made by the Swiss sculptor.
On the art market, Alberto Giacometti’s sculptures are selling well, he says. Knowledge of the Arts. myn 2018, a Giacometti chandelier sold for £7.6 million at Sotheby’s in London.
Recently, the work of Alberto Giacometti has been in the news: the Kunsthaus in Zurich, a museum with one of the most prestigious art collections in all of Switzerland, including an extensive set by the sculptor, has lost trace of the two small-format paintings, framed and under glass.
Source: BFM TV
