Document text
Rembrandt or not, drawing didn't sell Myrtle Point couple's Internet auction fizzles By Bill Varble of the Mail Tribune An Internet auction rang up no sale for a Myrtle Point couple trying to sell what they say is an original Rembrandt for at least $1 million. "That's the way it goes," Ed Andersen says. Ed and Pat Andersen bought the drawing in a secondhand store in 1970 for $37.50 because they liked the frame. Research over the years convinced them it was a Rembrandt. On Feb. 4 it was offered for sale as "A Young Polish Prince" by the International Auction Network. For details, go to the www.ian.com or telephone (843) 577-3000. The auction ended Friday and resulted in no bids. "They'll just take it off the auction now," Andersen says. The 16-by-20-inch drawing is similar to "Portrait of Titus van Rijn as a Boy," an oil painting traditionally attributed to Rembrandt and exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for many years. Cyber-auctioneer Bill Hicken of IAN said prospective buyers were welcome to have their own experts examine the artwork. Under terms of IAN's guarantee, a high bidder would have had the right to come to Oregon to inspect the piece and/or hire experts to do so. Part of the deal was a 30-day option to return the work for a refund. The image is that of a boy of 13 or 14 with a plumed hat and a sweet expression. Done in charcoal, red and black chalk, watercolor, India ink and bister (a pigment made from soot) on paper, it's tucked away safely in a bank vault in Washington, Andersen said. Thirty years ago, a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art told the Andersens their picture was a copy of a Rembrandt portrait at the Met. But Met officials were having qualms about their portrait and later decided it was a fake, or at best a work "in the style of Rembrandt," and took it down. Ed Andersen believes the Met's picture is a copy of the Andersens' drawing. They had the work examined at a Boeing radiographic laboratory, which found a number of sketches underneath the finished artwork, suggesting it wasn't the work of a forger. Other tests established that the paper is 350 years old. But the couple couldn't interest art experts and museums in their find, and they put the whole thing aside for years until a neighbor recently suggested trying an online auction. Andersen says he figures recent media coverage of highly publicized art frauds didn't help his prospects with prospective buyers, making them nervous. "`Sixty Minutes' just did a story on those (fake) paintings sold by Christie's," he says. "When they have that kind of crap, it sinks us. But what the hell can you do?" Andersen says there was a lot of interest, if no actual bids. He says he has some leads on some high-powered art people. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA