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Inflation signalled by portrait of 'Greenspan' that fetches $150,400
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2006-02-03T2319...

Fri Feb 3, 2006 6:04 PM ET

By Tim Ahmann

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - It's not a Picasso, but for the price you'd have been able to buy one.

An oil painting of newly retired Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan by 25-year-old artist Erin Crowe was auctioned on the online market eBay on Friday for $150,400.

For that hefty sum, you could have snapped up an oil by celebrated American portrait painter John Singer Sargent at a New York auction in November or grabbed a Picasso sketch in May -- and still had money left to burn.

If nothing else, Crowe's work is unique. It was created in one day under the glare of the public eye at business cable channel CNBC. And it wasn't just any day -- it was Greenspan's 6,749th and final day in office.

"It absolutely takes my breath away," said Crowe, who began painting the iconic Fed chief in 2003 and has completed some 56 pictures of him in various poses.

CNBC put the 24-by-30 inch painting, which captures a typically pensive expression on the central banker's face, up for auction to raise money for Autism Speaks, an organization dedicated to research on the developmental disorder.

"People often bid premiums for things if they think the money is going toward a good cause," said eBay spokesman Hani Durzy. Asked if this was the reason for the lofty price, Durzy hedged. "I would have no idea," he said. "I'm no art expert."

For Crowe, a Virginia native studying art at Goldsmiths College in London whose most expensive previous work sold for $12,000, the eBay auction and Greenspan's departure marked the end of an era.

"That's my last Greenspan," she said in a telephone interview. And, no, she doesn't plan to paint new Fed chief Ben Bernanke, the former White House adviser who took office on Wednesday.

"I'm a little nervous about saying what I want to do next because there are all these copycat Greenspan painters," said Crowe, noting that a number of other Fed chief portraits popped up for sale on eBay this week. "If I say what I want to do next, I might flood the market."

The buyer could not be immediately identified. Greenspan declined to comment