BRUSSELS – An original cover painting from the 1963 comic book “Asterix and Cleopatra” went under the hammer Sunday but failed to find a buyer after a legal challenge from the artist’s daughter.
The famous gouache, showing the ancient Egyptian ruler reclining and the two Gaulish heroes Asterix and Obelix, was to be sold by the Brussels auction house Millon.
Measuring 32 by 17 centimetres (12.6 by 7 inches), it was expected to fetch 400,000 to 500,000 euros ($430,000-540,00) but no bid matched the reserve price and it remained unsold.
Millon director general Arnaud de Partz told AFP that buyers had perhaps been scared off by the legal complaint of the daughter of the late French illustrator Albert Uderzo.
Sylvie Uderzo argued that if her father had given the painting away he would have signed and dedicated it, and thus the painting must have been stolen.
Millon said it…
