The Duke of Sutherland has recently confirmed that he wants to sell 2 prestigious pieces of his collection, the Bridgewater, lent since 1945 to the National Gallery of Scotland. Two masterpieces by the famous Italian artist Tiziano Vecellio, which portray Diana, goddess of hunting, have been offered on sale to two outstanding buyers who have joined their forces to secure these two wonderful canvases: the National Gallery of Scotland itself, located in Edinburgh, and London’s National Gallery. “Diana e Atteone” and “Diana e Callisto” were probably conceived by the artist between 1556 and 1559 for the sovereign of Spain Phillip II, who apparently appreciated their elegant erotic impetus. The two pictures belonged to a series, dedicated to Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”, which over the years was broken up and distributed to various museums in the world, which included also the canvases “Diana”, “Venere e Adone” (both in Madrid, Museo del Prado), “Perseo e Andromeda” (Wallace Collection, London) and “Il ratto di Europa” (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston).

Article translated by Amritee Mahabir

By now it is widely known that the exhibits organised by Marco Goldin manage to achieve a huge capital. We only have to think of the “Gauguin and Van Gogh” show organised in 2006 in Brescia, that had a total economic impact equal to 75,746,760 euros in comparison to an investment of 7-8 million euros.