Interest In Pricey 'Minerva'

A Swedish art dealer said Friday he has received a bid for a Rembrandt painting bearing a record price tag of $46 million, and that its sale could be finalized as early as next week.

The 1635 painting, "Minerva In Her Study," has been on display in Verner Aamell's private art gallery in Stockholm for four weeks, and the exhibition was set to end Friday.

"We have an interesting bid," he said. "But I have to discuss it with the owner."

Aamell said the potential buyer is a Swede who would put the Dutch masterpiece on display in the National Museum in Stockholm. He declined to reveal the bidder, or whether the bid was lower than the asking price.

The record price for a painting by Rembrandt van Rijn was $28.7 million for his 1632 "Portrait of a Lady" in December 2000 at Christie's in London. Adjusted for inflation, the purchase price today is $34.1 million.

Aamell tracked the Rembrandt painting down this year and persuaded its Canadian owner, who wants to remain anonymous, to sell it. It has been displayed in his art gallery, under the protection of armed guards and security cameras, since Sept. 25.

More than 6,000 visitors has flocked to the gallery to see the painting, Aamell said.

When the painting went up for sale, many art experts said it was unlikely Aamell would be able to find a buyer in Sweden, where the record for the highest-priced painting was author August Strindberg's "The Wonderland" which sold for 22 million kronor in 1990, making it worth more than $5.2 million when adjusted for inflation.

If the painting is not sold, it will be sent to the United States to be put on temporary display in a museum in Philadelphia, Aamell said. He didn't say which one.

"Minerva In Her Study" depicts the ancient Roman goddess of wisdom and war sitting at a table, illuminated by light. Before her is an open book and one hand marks the spot she is reading. Behind her is a golden helmet, globe, spear and a shield bearing the head of the gorgon Medusa.

In the 1930s, it was owned by Swede, Axel Wenner-Gren, who founded Electrolux AB, the world's largest maker of appliances.

The work was last auctioned to the highest bidder in 1975 and purchased by Baron Marcel Bich — the inventor of the Bic pen, who later sold it in 1988. In 2001, it was purchased by art dealer Otto Naumann, who took it to New York and then sold it to a Canadian.