The 76.2cm by 54.6cm painting features a dark-haired woman wearing a black hat and a long black dress who holds a green birdcage with a yellow bird inside in front of a wooden chair. Only the woman's profile and hand are illuminated. Just as in the identically-titled painting on display at the Hungarian National Gallery, the model for the painting was the French woman Lazarine Baudrion, who was to become the painter's wife.
The oil painting, considered to be a national treasure, may officially stay in Hungary for one year, Ernst Gallery owner Korani Eleni told MTI. During this period, the painting will be restored at the National Gallery.
Art historian Máaria Csernitzky, who drafted a study of the painting before the auction, emphasized that the work is important because it dates from Rippl-Rónai's experimental period, when the painter stopped painting in the style of the Munkácsy school.
Rippl-Rónai first exhibited the painting at the Palais Gallerie in Paris in 1892. Together with its second version, the painting was then shown at a number of exhibitions around the turn of the century. The painting was first purchased by Mór Mayer in 1906.
The new owners of the Rippl-Rónai painting hope that its future will be settled within a year.
In line with current regulations, the owners are expected to pay 20 percent VAT or HUF 24 million for importing the painting, but they hope VAT will be reduced to 5 percent this autumn.
Negotiations are underway to put the painting on public display once restoration is completed.
