High prices for high camp at Versace auction
A potent mix of fashion, fame and flamboyance saw the sale of contents from the Lake Como home of designer Gianni Versace more than double its pre-sale estimate at auction house Sotheby's in London.
The 545-lot sale of the contents of Villa Fontanelle, Versace’s early 19th-century mansion, fetched $10.5m (£7.4m) against a presale top estimate of £2.8m. All except nine lots found buyers during the 12-hour auction .
One of the star lots was the pair of life-size casts of Antonio Canova’s wrestlers which sold for £433,250 , more than 10 times its pre-sale estimate of between £20,000 and £40,000.
The highest price was paid for a pair of Italian cherry wood and patinated bronze-mounted breakfront bookcases by Karl Roos which sold for £481,250 and £601,250 respectively - in excess of four times their pre-sale high estimates.
Heated bidding took place for the casts of Canova’s wrestlers in plaster, Creugas and Damoxenos, which had previously been arranged in Gianni Versace’s own bedroom.
The sale follows hot ont the heels of Christie’s International’s record €373.9m February auction of French designer Yves Saint Laurent’s art collection, affirming buyers’ appetite for objects whose owners are seen as pioneers of style.
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