The former owner of a disputed Caravaggio has lost his battle for compensation from an auction house, BBC reports.
Lancelot William Thwaytes sold The Cardsharps at Sotheby’s in 2006 for £46,000 after being told it was by a follower of the Old Master.
The new owner subsequently insured the painting for millions – after a close friend, an art expert, claimed it was in fact an original Caravaggio.
Sotheby’s maintains the painting is not by the artist.
Mr. Thwaytes attempted to sue Sotheby’s of London, for giving him negligent advice after the new owner had the artwork valued at £10m.
Lawyers for Mr. Thwaytes accused Sotheby’s of not consulting enough top experts or sufficiently testing the painting before the 2006 sale.
But the judge at London’s High Court ruled the auction house had reasonably come to the view that the quality of the painting “was not sufficiently high to indicate that it might be by Caravaggio”.
