IT’S GOOD NUDES FOR BILLIONAIRE MAGNIER

IRISH billionaire John Magnier is now €131million richer after selling a painting he originally bought for €22million.

The work of art by Amedeo Modigliani racked up the highest ever sum at New York auctioneer Sotheby’s.

Part of a series of 22 nudes labelled Nu Couche, it depicts a woman reclining on a couch gazing over her shoulder.

Mr Magnier bought the painting by the Italian artist in 2003 for €22million, which was a fifth of its current selling price.

He has never confirmed owning the artwork but sources at the time identified him as the buyer.

It racked up €109million in just 15 years.

Mr Magnier is a prominent Irish horsebreeder who owns a farm in Fethard, Co Tipperary, and reportedly has a young horse named after Modigliani.

The Italian artist painted the collection of nude portraits between 1916 and 1919 after he abandoned his previous work as a sculptor.

Initially the works caused public furore over their obscene visual content and display of the naked female form.

The reaction was so severe police instructed gallery authorities in Paris to close the exhibit upon its opening.

Since then, Madigliani’s works have soared in both demand and value.

The painting that sold on Monday is named Nu Couche (Sur Le Cote Gauche).

It was described by the auctioneer as Modigliani’s “most ambitious” work and also his largest from the series, measuring almost 58 inches across.

However, the painting failed to break a record-selling sum for the artist whose other work, the Reclining Nude, sold three years ago for €143million.