Artfact Live! Offers Rare Gilbert Stuart Portrait of "The Good Bishop"

USA (SANEPR.com) April 14, 2009 -- American art highlights "The April Auction" at Grogan & Company in Dedham, MA, on April 19, 2009. Also on offer are European paintings, prints and drawings, 18th and 19th century furniture and decorations, silver, and Oriental rugs and carpets. Through Artfact Live! - or Invaluable Live! in the UK - it's possible to discover and purchase all of these items without ever leaving the comforts of home. So, if you can't be part of Grogan's live auction action in Dedham, MA, simply visit Artfact.com or its sister site in the UK, Invaluable.com, to register free to bid live online and explore the world's largest marketplace of fine and decorative arts, antiques, collectibles, and estate auctions. If you're not ready to bid, simply watch the activity live from the auction floor using the Artfact Live! or Invaluable Live! auction console.

Highlighting the American art selection is a portrait of the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Boston, Bishop Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus, by Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828). The beautiful triadic coloring of this painting sets it apart as very special piece, produced late in the career of Gilbert Stuart in Boston, during his mature years c. 1824-26. One of only two known copies, this is an exceptional painting to come up at auction and is expected to far exceed the pre-sale estimate of $8,000-$12,000. The other known copy of this painting is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Among other notable works in Grogan's auction is another portrait by Gilbert Stuart, "Portrait of Edward Tuckerman III (1775-1843)," painted between 1798-1814, with an estimate of $3,000-$5,000. Also noteworthy, "Bubble Dance," a bronze with brown patina, signed and dated by Harriet Frishmuth in 1923, is expected to sell for $8,000-$10,000, and Lot 91, "Sleeping Child," a white marble sculpture depicting the head of a young girl and believed to be the work of Thomas Waldo Story, is estimated at $800-$1,200. Jonathan Fairbanks, Artfact's Vice President of Research and The Katharine Lane Weems Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture Emeritus at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, examined "Sleeping Child" first hand and assisted with the attribution of the lot.

Since the departure of eBay Live Auctions, Artfact Live! has taken the lead in the live auction arena by partnering exclusively with the world's most prestigious auction houses to host their online auctions. Artfact's ever-expanding list of premier auction house partners includes: I.M. Chait of Beverly Hills, Doyle New York, Swann Galleries, Koller Auctions (Zurich), Lyon & Turnbull (Scotland), Gorringes (UK), Ritchie's Auctioneers (Canada) Mallet Japan, The Old Church Auction Galleries (South Africa) and Lawsons (Australia) to name a few.

About Artfact
Founded in 1989, Artfact is the largest global marketplace of fine and decorative arts, antiques, collectibles, and estate auctions. On January 1, 2009, Arfact launched Artfact Live! (and Invaluable Live!), its proprietary live auction bidding platform, enabling users to bid real time on auctions being held around the world by its prestigious auction house partners. Currently, over 1,000 fine auctioneers actively list their catalogues with Artfact.com and its U.K. sister site Invaluable.com, reaching the Artfact community of more than 10 million knowledgeable collectors and dealers worldwide. Artfact's two websites, Artfact.com and Invaluable.com, now have close to 2 million unique visitors monthly, as verified by Quantcast. Artfact's industry leading database includes more than 50 million complete auction results totaling more than $190 billion in value, including information on more than 500,000 international artists. In 2006, Artfact merged with RFC Systems, the leading provider of enterprise software developed specifically for the fine art and antique auction house industry. RFC helps prestigious auction houses around the world manage their businesses by automating their day-to-day operations.

Editor's Notes
- Additional background information available.
- Interviews with Doug Ellinger, VP Marketing, dellinger@artfact.com, (617) 219-1082
- Complimentary media subscriptions to the Artfact database available.