Italy auction hits record art price with Tiepolo

MILAN, June 1 (Reuters) A cycle of five paintings including works by Old Master Giambattista Tiepolo have been sold at the highest price paid at an Italian art auction, going to an anonymous buyer for 5.1 million euros (6.57 million dollar).

The Italian buyer will pay a final bill of more than 6 million euros, auction house Sotheby's said -- still far below the cycle's estimated international market price, since the Tiepolos can never leave Italy.

''It's an absolute record price for any work of art, modern or old, that has ever been sold in Italy,'' Alberto Chiesa, head of Sotheby's Old Master Painting in Milan, told Reuters after the auction late on Tuesday.

Bidders and auction-watchers broke out in spontaneous applause when the hammer fell.

Considered works of cultural and national significance by Italy's government, the three paintings by Tiepolo and two paintings by lesser-known Nicolo Bambini have not been granted an export license.

''It was very difficult to make an estimate because there was nothing to compare this piece of work to,'' Chiesa said. ''Abroad, making a hypothetical estimate, it would have had a value of 20 million euros.'' The cycle was commissioned by the Sandi family of lawyers for their Venetian palazzo in the 1720s, and remained in the family's hands until Tuesday's auction. It was only moved once, in the early 20th century, from Venice to a villa on the mainland.

Bambini and Tiepolo painted scenes from Greek and Roman myths as allegories on elegance and virtue, meant also as a praise to the Sandi family's professional skills.

Tiepolo was only in his 20s when the Sandis contracted him, but the dynamic composition and rich, contrasting colours of the works already indicate a talent that made him one of the most important Italian Rococo artists.

The public saw the paintings for the first time in two shows organised by Sotheby's before the auction.

Since their new owner, who bid by telephone, appears to be a private collector, they may disappear from public view again for the next couple of centuries.

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