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Sotheby's sues Michael Jackson for payment on painting
Fri Jan 31, 3:45 PM ET

By COLLEEN DEBAISE

NEW YORK - Prince of Pop Michael Jackson has found himself in a legal dispute with auction house Sotheby's Holdings Inc. over a pair of 19th-century European paintings.


Sotheby's filed a lawsuit Friday claiming Jackson's company, MJJ Productions Inc., successfully bid on two artworks by French painter William Adolphe Bouguereau at an October auction.


But while "repeated demands" have been made for a $1.3 million payment, Jackson hasn't coughed up the dough, Sotheby's contends.


The alleged reason? Sotheby's says in the suit it's been told by Jackson's people that "Michael Jackson now believes the property ... no longer fits into Michael Jackson's collections, contrary to previous view."


That doesn't fly with Sotheby's, which demands not only the payment but another $360,000 in late fees and other charges.


A representative from MJJ Productions wasn't immediately available to comment on the suit, filed in Manhattan federal court.


Bouguereau, the 19th-century master of the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris, is known for his romantic and mythological scenes. Celebrity collectors include Sylvester Stallone, who made headlines in 1998 when he sold a Bouguereau painting — depicting a young mother offering her nurturing breasts to children — for $2.6 million.


Sotheby's spokeswoman Diana Phillips says the two paintings that Jackson purchased at auction are "L'Amour A L'Epine," which depicts a cupid taking a thorn out of his foot, and "Les Agneaux," which shows a young woman with a boy in one arm and a sheep in the other.


The paintings are still at Sotheby's. But under the terms of the sales contract, title transferred to Jackson "on the fall of the auctioneer's hammer," according to the suit.


The auction house has had at least 20 conversations with the Jackson people over payment but none has been made, Phillips said.

u have way 2 much time on your hands