A congregation of Catholic nuns headquartered near here is suing a Santa Fe, N.M., art dealer and a local appraiser for fraud in the sale of a painting by Nineteenth Century genre artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau.
The Daughters of Mary Mother of Our Savior and St Joseph’s Chapel, based in Round Top, N.Y., claim that the dealer, Mark Zaplin, and Mark LaSalle, a New York state art appraiser, colluded to defraud them of the $1.7 million they believe they could have gotten for selling “Notre Dame des Anges,” an 1889 work by Bouguereau that depicts Mary standing in the clouds with the Christ Child surrounded by angels.
In a complaint filed in the New York Supreme Court in August 2008, the nuns, represented by New York City attorney Bruce Goldstone, claimed that LaSalle and Zaplin “intentionally, deliberately, wantonly, maliciously (and) with evil motive … perpetrated fraud” against the congregation.
Zaplin purchased the genre painting from the Daughters of Mary in 2006, paying them $450,000. He later sold it to a Dallas, Texas, art dealer, Brian Roughton for about $2.5 million. Zaplin denies any conspiracy to defraud the nuns, countering that they are merely experiencing seller’s remorse.
Goldstone argues, however, that LaSalle’s “lowball” appraisal, in concert with Zaplin’s “straw purchase” constitutes seven legal “sins,” including negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, express or implied warranty, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, deceptive business practices and violation of the penal law regarding stealing property. The requested wages for those sins, or in legalese “causes of action,” amount to $1.75 million, plus $50 million in punitive damages.
According to Goldstone, the painting originally came to the Daughters of Mary from a parishioner. In August 2004, the nuns contacted LaSalle, a local appraiser, to evaluate the painting and give them an estimate of the price that could be obtained at auction. In a written appraisal dated September 6, 2004, LaSalle valued the painting at $150/250,000, stating in the attached condition report that “the painting is an important work by the artist, however, has a number of condition issues” †such as structural problems with the canvas, paint loss in many places, extensive overpainting and a layer of dirt of grime and soot. “The worst damage noticeable is on the faces of Mother Mary and the Baby Christ,” he wrote. “There is extensive crackling, paint separation, bubbling and minor losses in this area, unquestionably, the most important area of the work.”
LaSalle went on to say that with proper conservation, “the resulting work should gain significantly in its appearance, this adding to the value as well,” and he further recommended having the painting framed with “a more appropriate period moulding.”
A month later, following LaSalle’s advice, according to the complaint, the nuns contracted to have the painting restored by the Williamstown Regional Conservation Laboratory at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass.
The complaint states that in February 2006, after the painting had been restored, LaSalle provided a verbal appraisal of the painting as having a fair market value of $350,000 to $450,000. He also told them that he had located a buyer for the painting, which turned out to be Zaplin, who he said was willing to pay $350,000 for it. In negotiations, that amount was subsequently raised to $450,000, the sum for which Zaplin contracted with the nuns in August 2006.
In fact, the complaint charges, both LaSalle and Zaplin knew that the actual fair market of the painting, post-restoration, was between $1.5 million and $1.8 million, according to an affidavit filed by a third “co-conspirator” in this action. Paul Dumont, a New York art dealer, who said he had a long professional and social relationship with LaSalle and Zaplin. Dumont swore that although LaSalle had given the sisters a pre-restoration appraisal of $150,000, a true pre-restoration value would be between $700,000 and $800,000. He further stated in the affidavit that he had accompanied LaSalle on several trips to view the progress of the paintings restoration in Williamstown.
“In December of 2005 or January of 2006, when the restoration was almost completed [LaSalle] valued the painting in a finished condition at well over $1 million, an appraisal in which I concurred,” said Dumont. “Mr LaSalle said we could ‘screw’ the sisters and make a handsome profit by giving the sisters a low appraisal of between $350,000 and $450,000 and presenting a buyer who would pay the amount of our deliberate and intentionally inaccurate appraisal,” said Dumont in his affidavit. He added, “LaSalle had already confided in me that representatives from Sotheby’s had valued the painting at between $1.5 million and $1.8 million.”
Documents filed in this case so far raise some interesting questions. Were the Daughters of Mary innocents who were financially ravaged by a wolves in sheep’s clothing? A letter from the religious order’s bishop, Clarence Kelly, to LaSalle during negotiations for the painting makes it clear that the novitiate had consulted with a lawyer, and the letter includes several exacting terms of purchase, such as copyright provisions for transparencies to be made from the original artwork. And while LaSalle claims that he provided a “gratuitous” appraisal to the nuns, in a September 2004 letter to Sister Mary Xavier, LaSalle thanks her for “the time you took to entertain [my daughter] Adelaide and coordinate my inspection of the painting concurrently. . . in exchange for the appraisal, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I would like to ask that you include Adelaide and I in one of your prayers. That would be sufficient remuneration.”
Later, LaSalle received a letter from another sister, Mother Mary Bosco, saying, “I wanted to let you know that we asked the founder of our congregation, Bishop Kelly, to offer a Mass for you and your family. You and Adelaide remain in our prayers.”
Zaplin and LaSalle have filed a motion to dismiss the complaint.
