Prominent Manhattan art dealer Guy Wildenstein is no longer on the hook for allegations of dirty dealings in the $11 million sale of a painting by Paul Gaugin.
A Manhattan judge has dismissed a lawsuit claiming Wildenstein hid his ownership interest in the 1892 work, “Landscape with Three Trees,” even as he appraised it for the eventual buyer as worth millions more than its market value.
“Let the buyer beware,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Emily Jane Goodman essentially told the buyer, a Bahamian company called Mandarin Trading.
Mandarin accused Wildenstein of fraudulently appraising the small landscape at between $15 million and $17 million before the August 2000 sale – where the painting foundered. Mandarin was forced to keep it when the highest bid of $9 million failed to meet its reserve of $12 million.
Wildenstein, through his lawyer, Steven Schindler, said he was “very happy” with the ruling.