01/02/2002

A charity known as the St Francis of Assisi Foundation (based in the UK) is offering up for auction three paintings estimated to sell for $ 11.3 million (€ 13 million). The paintings by Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Maurice de Vlaminck, donated to The St Francis of Assisi Foundation by an unnamed collector, will be offered for sale at Christie's auction of Impressionist paintings in London on the 4th of February. The most expensive of the three paintings is Maurice de Vlaminck's La Seine à Chatou, which is estimated at $ 4.2-5.6 million (€ 4.9-6.5 million). Jussi Pylkkänen, Christie's international director of Impressionist and Modern Art, said in a press statement "the collector is a highly religious person and he was looking for a way of helping others." (Andrew Moore)