3 Chagall synagogue paintings up for sale in NYC

[November 19, 2011]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Three rare oil paintings of synagogue interiors by Marc Chagall are going on the auction block in New York City.

Sotheby's auction house said Friday the paintings came to the market for the first time in 66 years from a descendent of art collector and original owner Max Cottin, who acquired them from the 1945 exhibition at the Gallery of Jewish Art in New York.

Only six finished oil paintings of synagogues by Chagall are known to exist.

Leading the group up for auction is his 1931 "Interior of the Yemenite HaGoral Synagogue, Jerusalem," estimated to fetch between $400,000 and $600,000.

The sale is part of Sotheby's Israeli & International Art auction scheduled for Dec. 14.

Chagall died in 1985.

[Associated Press]

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