From: "Griffith, Helen"
With reference to the article published in your July 27 newsletter "Top auction house faces investigation over £49m painting sale", we thought you might be interested in also publishing a statement from Sotheby's which we have issued in response to these reports.
Please contact me if you have any queries, Helen Griffith Sotheby's Press Office
STATEMENT FROM SOTHEBY'S REGARDING THE RUBENS
Sotheby's wishes to refute the completely false and unfounded stories currently circulating about the Rubens painting, 'Massacre of the Innocents'. It was absolutely false that Mrs Anna K was the seller of the Rubens. Sotheby's has never had any contact with her, and she is completely unknown to our consignor and to the monastery in which the painting was hanging for almost thirty years. Similarly, it is absolutely false that Sotheby's knew the painting was by Rubens when it was exported from Austria. It was only at the completion of extensive research, undertaken after the painting arrived in England, that there was a change to the prior attribution that had stood unchallenged for more than 200 years.
The accusations against Sotheby's were raised in an anonymous letter distributed simultaneously to the prosecution office in Vienna and to several media. Finally, it is absolutely false that a criminal investigation is pending against Sotheby's or any of its representatives, or anybody else. In fact, there are no investigations at all.