Pursuits
`Caravaggio' Miss Means $219 Painting May Be Worth $16 Million
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A painting bought by a British naval doctor for 140 pounds ($218) in 1962 may now be worth as much as 10 million pounds if his descendant can prove it’s a Caravaggio.
The authenticity of “The Cardsharps” is at the heart of a lawsuit against Sotheby’s, which judged the artwork a 17th-century copy. Described as by “Caravaggio (After)” in the auction where U.K. Royal Navy Surgeon Captain William Glossop Thwaytes bought it five decades ago, the painting was sold again through the auctioneers in 2006 for 42,000 pounds.