Sotheby's spots another Old Master fake

Amsterdam

A PAINTING attributed to the circle of the 16th-century Italian artist known as Parmigianino has been determined to be a modern fake, according to a complaint filed by Sotheby's auction house in US District Court in New York on Tuesday.

The company filed the complaint against the collector Lionel de Saint Donat-Pourrières, who consigned the painting to Sotheby's for a 2012 auction, where it sold to another collector for US$842,500. Last year, Sotheby's asked the buyer to send the painting back for testing, after it received information that it may have passed through a source under investigation before coming into Mr de Saint Donat-Pourrières' possession.