Paris: Christie`s has sold a group of more than 400 books, paintings, letters and other items from personal collections of French writer Victor Hugo and his descendants for 3.2 million euros ($4.2 million), the auction house said in a media communique.
The items included photographs, furniture and personal objects related to the life of Hugo, his son Charles, grandson Georges and great-grandson Jean. The collection was initially estimated at 1 million euros ($1.3 million).
The auction attracted bidders from 12 countries, including the Victor Hugo Museum in Paris and the National Library of France.
The most expensive lot was Victor Hugo`s drawing entitled Souvenir de Belgique (Memory of Belgium). Estimated at between 50,000 euros and 80,000 euros ($65,000-105,000), it was sold to an unidentified European art gallery for 409,000 euros (some $540,000). The drawing, which perhaps evokes the memory of a Flemish landscape, was painted by Hugo in the 1850s.
IANS
First Published: Friday, April 6, 2012, 10:18
