Fine European Art Auction exceeds 1.3 million at Heritage Auctions
(Artdaily.org)

Regarded by many as the most significant and ambitious work of the Victorian artist`s career, Henrietta Rae`s Psyche before the throne of Venus sold for $324,500, the second-highest price ever for the artist at auction, to lead Heritage Auction`s $1.3+ million Fine European Art auction. Psyche features a total of 14 full-length figures, and is a testament to Rae`s celebrity as the finest woman painter of the female nude in pre-modern Britain. The work subsequently was owned by `celebrity collectors` William Randolph Hearst and Amon G. Carter. `There is no doubt that Henrietta Rae set out to create a major artistic statement when she painted Psyche before the throne of Venus,` notes Dr. Marianne Berardi, Senior European Painting Expert at Heritage. `This mythological composition not only took her over two years to complete, but required