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Vecchio Sultano by Salvador Dal\u00ed Credit Cheffins in Cambridge<\/p>\n Vecchio Sultano by Salvador Dal\u00ed Credit Cheffins in Cambridge<\/p>\n
A frequenter of analog auctions, clever and confidant in his ability to spot forgeries and potential fortunes, recently snapped up a lost, original Salvador Dal\u00ed for just \u00a3150.<\/p>\n
Amounting to $180 or thereabouts, it\u2019s certainly a bargain considering its being re-sold by Cambridge for as much as 200-times that much.<\/p>\n
Vecchio Sultano,\u00a0or Old Sultan, was painted by Dal\u00ed in 1966. The mixed-media artwork was one in a whopping commission the great Surrealist painter received for 500 illustrations inspired by The Arabian Nights.<\/p>\n
According to the Guardian<\/a>, Giuseppe and Mara Albaretto were an Italian couple who commissioned the illustrations from Dal\u00ed, while Rizzoli, an Italian publishing house, was planning to publish them. However, Dal\u00ed abandoned the project with just 100 of the 500 illustrations finished.<\/p>\n Half were retained by the Albarettos, and the other half went unpublished and are presumed lost.<\/p>\n \u201cDal\u00ed was quite obsessed with Moorish culture and believed himself to be from a Moorish line,\u201d Gabrielle Downie, a fine art specialist at Cheffins in Cambridge, told the Guardian.<\/p>\n An antiquities dealer speaking to the Guardian under the auction name John Russel said that he encountered the painting at a purely in-person auction that was clearing out the effects of a London apartment.<\/p>\n In these cases, Russell says, one just shows up and discovers treasures, or trash as the case may be, but you know that no one beyond the room can see what\u2019s being bid on.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the time, I buy stuff that I like. On this occasion, I was really taking a bit of a punt, because I wasn\u2019t sure I\u2019d have it on the wall, to be honest \u2026 I do like some unusual art, but you\u2019d have to love it, wouldn\u2019t you?\u201d said Russell.<\/p>\n MORE ART AUCTION GEMS: <\/strong>Painting Found in Italian Villa Basement Turns Out to Be Original Picasso<\/a><\/p>\n On Russell\u2019s point, it is quite a striking departure from Dal\u00ed\u2019s associated style and iconography. Despite being listed as an original Dal\u00ed, the auction hall was silent apart from Russell and one other bidder who tapped out after the price reached \u00a3150.<\/p>\n But priding himself on being able to spot a forgery from years of watching the British television show Fake or Fortune,\u00a0and a closer examination revealing stickers on the back of the frame that indicated it had been sold at Sotheby\u2019s, confirmed to Russell that it must be an original.<\/p>\n