Vasari auction falls through

An auction of the papers of Giorgio Vasari, the Italian Renaissance artist credited with founding art history, was called off at the last minute Tuesday.
A lawyer for the aristocratic Festari family, owners of the letters to contemporary giants like Michelangelo, said the auction judge had accepted an appeal against the allegedly low starting price, 2.6 million euros, informs ansa.it.
The archives, one of the most precious insights into the early years of the Italian Renaissance, have been independently valued at up to ten times that.
The lawyer, Alberto Marchetti, also claimed the family had not received the information needed to settle an 800,000 euro tax debt in time to allow the auction to proceed.
On hand to bid were representatives of the Italian cultural ministry who said they hoped to have a chance to bid " at some time in the future". In addition to an assortment of Vasari's own notes, the Vasari papers contain letters from figures like Michelangelo, 16th-century Tuscan potentate Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, and a number of popes.

10.03.10