Gallipoli painting will stay after buyer pays $492,450
A famous Gallipoli painting will remain in New Zealand after it sold for almost half a million dollars at auction last night.
Horace Moore-Jones’ Simpson and His Donkey sold for $492,450 including buyer’s premium at the International Art Centre in Auckland.
The auction house’s director, Frances Davies, said she was “delighted” the painting would remain in New Zealand. She could not say whether it was sold to a private or public collection, as the sale was “highly confidential” and the buyer did not want to be identified.
“But we were allowed to announce on the rostrum — and it gave us great pleasure as good New Zealanders — that the painting remains in New Zealand.” The photograph on which the painting was based fetched $37,520 including buyer’s premium — well over the $20,000 it was expected to fetch. Ms Davies said the prices were reflective of the interest in this year’s Gallipoli centenary.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters yesterday urged the Government to buy the painting so it would not be lost from public view, and possibly from New Zealand.
Mr Peters said if the artwork was not bought by a museum or the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, it would be “a dark stain on this centennial year of the Anzac landings”.
Had the painting sold to an overseas buyer, the ministry could still have kept it in New Zealand using its powers under the Protected Objects Act.
The auction house said the watercolour was “undoubtedly the most famous image of the Gallipoli campaign”. It had been owned by the Commerce Club and was later loaned to the Auckland War Memorial and Museum, where it has been an integral part of the Scars on the Heart exhibition. — NZME