Christie's wins mistaken identity da Vinci lawsuit

The sale is final on Leonardo da Vinci's La Bella Principessa, a work that sold for $21,850 in 1998 even though it could have been auctioned for $100 million.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Jeanne Marchig and the Marchig Animal Welfare Trust against Christie's last year.

The judge dismissed the lawsuit that sought to recoup the value of the work because the statute of limitations ran out on the sale.

Jeanne Marchig and her husband developed a relationship with Noel Annesley, an expert in old master drawings at Christies in 1966. In 1998, Jeanne Marchig told Christie's that she believed a drawing she owned was done by Domenico Ghirlandaio, an early Italian Renaissance painter who taught Michelangelo.

Christie's resident expert, Francois Borne, determined the drawing was a 19th century German work of unknown authorship. Borne estimated the drawing's would bring in $12,000 to $15,000 in New York. Borne also encouraged Marchig to frame the drawing so that it would appear an amateur object of the 19th century rather than an Italian pastiche.

Christie's then changed the frame before Marchig gave consent and listed the drawing as the property of a lady and German 19th century. The work , La Bella Principessa was sold in 1998 to New York art dealer Kate Ganz. .

In July of 2009, Annesley telephoned Marchig to inform her that the drawing was a da Vinci. Since then many other experts have also affirmed the drawing is a work by Leonardo da Vinci. The current value of the painting is estimated to be more than $100 million.

Marchig filed a lawsuit against Christie's in May of 2010. Courthouse News Services reported that Marchig sued Christie's for breach of fiduciary duty, breach of warranty, negligence and negligent misrepresentation.

But the lawsuit was dismissed because because the statute of limitations requires that no more than three years lapse from the time the alleged infraction occurs.

Marchig's attorney's argued that the statute of limitations should apply to the 2009 date when they learned true author and value of the work. The judge disagreed and ruled in Christie's favor.

An Italian researcher, Silvano Vincenti, recently announced that the da Vinci used a male model for the Mona Lisa painting. Vincenti suggests that male in the Mona Lisa painting is Gian Giacomo Caprottie, an apprentice, longtime companion and possible lover of da Vinci's.

Most historians agree with Vincenti's was a lover of Leonardi da Vinci's.