NYPL Raises at Least $5M in Art Sale

-- Library Journal, 01/10/2007

The New York Public Library has netted at least $5 million from the sale of a full-length portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart that did not find a buyer in a November 2004 auction. While the New York Times reported that officials would not say how much philanthropists Michael and Judy Steinhardt had paid, it did meet its reserve price, about $5 million, while Sotheby's estimated its value at $6 million to $8 million. "We've now raised $52.8 million," library President Paul LeClerc told the newspaper, and this was the last of several major paintings sold to boost the library endowment. Art dealer Richard L. Feigen said that Steinhardts agreed "to help out the library" and may donate the painting, which is now circulating to museums as part of a collection of revolutionary portraits.