Name of buyer of Judith attributed to Caravaggio revealed: he is an American billionaire

Confidentiality over the name of the buyer of the Toulouse Judith, the painting depicting Judith and Holofernes and attributed by some (albeit with great divisions in scholarly circles) to Caravaggio, has been short-lived. The painting, which was supposed to go up for auction last Thursday, was actually purchased a few hours before it went up for auction by a wealthy private individual: his identity has now been revealed. He is J. Tomilson Hill, a U.S. billionaire and former vice president of the Blackstone Group, one of the world’s largest financial firms. The New York tycoon has made for the Toulouse Judith an offer, the amount of which is still unknown, but which, the gallery owner Éric Turquin, in charge of the transaction, has made known, is significantly higher than the 30 million euro base from which the auction would have started.

The identity of the buyer of the Judith was revealed by the New York Times newspaper. Turquin had made it known that the buyer was a collector close to a major museum: Tomilson Hill is indeed a major collector of old masters, so much so that he opened his own private museum last February (the Hill Art Foundation), and he is close to a major museum, since he is on the board of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. It is therefore expected that the work will be exhibited in some large public museum in the U.S., perhaps the Metropolitan itself.

Moreover, Tomilson Hill’s name is also well known in Italy: the collector supported the recent tour of Pontormo’s Visitation in the U.S. and lent a Pontormo painting from his collection as part of the exhibition that brought the great 16th-century Tuscan painter’sAlabardiere to Florence.

Pictured: J. Tomilson Hill (ph. Credit Christie’s)

Name of buyer of Judith attributed to Caravaggio revealed: he is an American billionaire

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