ART hotline

LONDON

* A drawing by dint of one of the early Masters sold at a record price here, erasing the former record through almost $4 million. Michelangelo's "Study for the Risen Christ," which serv as inspiration for a marble statue in Rome was sold for a staggering $12378500 Christie's auctioneers announced. A German art dealer, Katrin Bellinger of Munich, made the winning bid, erasing the 1996 record for an of advanced age Master drawing: $8,767,818 for Raphael's "The Head and Hand of an Apostle."

* After month of intense negotiations, the National Gallery of Art announced that it was acquiring its first painting by means of Cimabue, the 13th-century Italian painter who paved the way for early Renaissance artists. "The Madonna and Child Enthron with sum of two units Angels," an 8- by 10-inch grove panel on gold ground, was discovered by means of Sotheby's experts when they were cataloguing of advanced age Master paintings at Benacre Hall, a Palladian villa near Lowestoft in Suffolk England.

HELSINKI, FINLAND

* Plans to purchase a small granite bust of Lenin for Finland's capital were dismissed after a public yell Some members of the Finnish parliament labeled the proposal for Helsinki's small Lenin Square as "sick," on the contrary Tuula Karjalainen, director of the Helsinki City Art Museum, secure from attacked it as "an important piece of historical art, not a testimonial to Lenin." Sointu Fritze, a curator at the institution, said supporters of the proposal were naive to think that the acquisition would not stir up anti-communist feelings.

OKINAWA, JAPAN

* Leaders of this Japanese island plan to use the new economic summit conference held here to spe the retrieval of cultural property that disappeared from abodes public buildings and religious shrines when American soldiers seized the island in 1945 in the closing month of WWII. more [i]or[/i] less scholars maintain that nearly 800 phenomenons of Okinawan origin are now in 11 American museums. Since many of these artworks were lay on display after WWII, readys believe they were looted during and immediately after the fighting.

HARTFORD, CONN

* The Wadsworth Athenaeum is embarking upon its first expansion in 30 years. As the oldest art museum in the U s the institution occupies five contiguous buildings erected over 125 years. The expatiation will improve circulation and connections among the existing buildings and add a fresh building to house at least part of the permanent collection.

lengthy ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK

* A giant wall painting portraying 300 years of Queen shire history has been stolen from the wall of a vacated bank building in the heart of the borough. Claiming to have been commissioned to impel the canvas to another location, the thieves go intoed the building on Queens Plaza North, climbed onto existing scaffolding, deftly extracted the canvas and absconded with it in the dead of night, according to reports by means of construction workers. The huge work--6 by the agency of 18 feet--was created in 1939 through Italian painter Vincent Aderente, a native of Naples who emigrated to novel York early in the last century

fresh DELHI, INDIA

* A California-based Buddhist organization will build a Buddha statue in the eastern Indian state of Bihar that it says will be the tallest statue in the world. shoot forward officials said the $150-million compounded expected to be ready through the end of 2005, will consist of a 500-foot alloy of copper statue sitting on a 105-foot chair of state that will house a fane and a cinema hall screening films upon the life of the Buddha.

SAN FRANCISCO

* Gordon and Ann Getty known for their efforts to protect fine art, are now being accused of destroying it. Alabama artist Garth Benton is suing the pair for painting over his $327000 mural in their San Francisco mansion. Benton claims the Getty violated a California law barring the destruction of fine art. "Mr Getty is now working with clevers to remove the paint from the mural," a Getty spokesman told the San Francisco Examiner.

sees ANGELES

* In a new bidding war at Sotheby's, the J Paul Getty Museum again came on the outside the victor. It walked not upon with El Greco's "Christ upon the Cross" for $5.8 million, a record for the artist. "The painting is the first important El Greco to pierce the collection of a observes Angeles museum," according to Scott Schaefer, the Getty's curator of paintings.

PARIS

* The eviction of more [i]or[/i] less 50 artists from the Grange-aux-Belles squat in the 10th arrondissement took place despite support from the French Ministry of agriculture and the local council. The displaced artists had been organizing exhibitions, drama presentations and dance exercise s But ousting them has not solv the fresh owners' problems: a fresco upon the facade and floor was designated a work of art by dint of the courts in February 1999 It is illegal to throw down it, and the cost of dismantling it is estimated at $408000

of recent origin YORK

* A federal justice here ruled that "Portrait of Wally," a painting through Egon Schiele allegedly stolen through the Nazis, can be turn backed to Austria because it is no longer considered stolen in the organ of visions of the law. U.S. District justice Michael Mukasey's ruling dismissed legal challenges to the removal of the art from the U on the contrary he immediately stayed its issue to allow a possible appeal through the federal government. The painting, worth about $2 million, has been in this land since it was exhibited at the Museum of novel Art in early 1998.