Going once...Going twice...Going three times...SOLD!!

An art collection belonging to the late cellist Mstislav Rostropovich was sold to a Russian billionaire for over $40 million!

Alisher Usmanov, one of Russia's richest men,
said he bought the trove of Russian artworks in order to return them to their homeland.
This is especially meaningful to Mr. Rostropovich's wife, Galina Vishneskaya and her family.
In a statement, Ms. Vishnevskaya's family said they were delighted the collection had been bought whole.

"It is especially meaningful for our family that the new owner will bring it to Russia," the statement said.

Mr. Usmanov, who is involved in mining, telecoms and natural gas and was ranked 278th in Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest people in 2006. He recently bought a 15% stake in London's Arsenal soccer team for $150 million.

Mr. Rostropovich, who died in April at age 80, was considered one of the finest cellists of the 20th century.
He fled the Soviet Union in the early 1970s after sheltering the dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, settling in Paris with his wife, soprano Galina Vishnevskaya.

The couple amassed one of the world's finest private collections of Russian art, including glassware, porcelain and works by leading painters such as Ilya Repin and Boris Grigoriev.

After Mr. Rostropovich's death, Ms. Vishnevskaya announced that they would sell the paintings for the benefit of charitable foundations.

Mr. Rostropovich and Ms. Vishnevskaya set up a foundation to raise the standards of healthcare for children in Russia.

Here's the address of the news article.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070917/ap_en_ot/people_rostropovich_sale;_ylt=AiwGlbbGeWJnW67.Gdt55BC2GL8C

and here's the address of the Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich foundation,

http://www.rostropovich.org/