Judge Rules for Art Dealer Over Sotheby's Exec in Australia
- October 18, 2012 00:05
A judge in Australia has ruled that a civil dispute over assets worth $23 million will end with one partner receiving $3 million.
The fueding pair, South Yarra art dealer Robert Gould, 56, and Geoffrey Smith, 44, split up in 2004.
Smith, the executive chairman of Sotheby's and a former curator of Australian art at the National Gallery of Victoria, sought half the property, art and cash amassed during the couple's 14-year relationship. He argued that his art expertise helped Mr. Gould's business, Gould Galleries, during their relationship.
The judge determined that Smith was entitled to $3 million due, in part, to his status as a college student when the two met in 1990.
Among the contested assets is the Gould-Smith collection, 53 artworks that the pair collected together.
Read more at Sydney Morning Herald
100x100_c.jpg "Two Nayarit (Mexico) seated musician figures with instruments, reddish ceramic with pigments and manganese, 200 BCE to 200 CE. Sizes: Larger figure 15¼in x 8in, smaller figure 15in x 10in. Estimate: $4,000-$6,000")
![Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), After Titian (Tiziano Vecelli) (Italian [Venetian], c. 1488–1576), Rape of Europa, 1628–29. Oil on canvas, 71 7/8 x 79 3/8 in.](/images/c/e2/2e/Jan20_Rape_of_Europa100x100_c.jpg "Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), After Titian (Tiziano Vecelli) (Italian [Venetian], c. 1488–1576), Rape of Europa, 1628–29. Oil on canvas, 71 7/8 x 79 3/8 in.")
