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French first lady Carla Bruni’s nude photo in Christie’s auction

Friday, 11 April 2008

French first lady Carla Bruni’s nude photo in Christie’s auction

France's first lady, Carla Bruni, has had a photo of her taken in the nude sold in a Christie’s auction for $91,000 (£46,098), which was over 20 times the price it was thought to fetch.

Photographer Michel Comte took the photograph of Carla Bruni in 1993, when Carla Bruni was pursuing a highly successful career as a supermodel.

An anonymous bidder purchased the Carla Bruni photo on behalf of a collector, explained Christie's auction house in New York, but the office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy has not made any comment on the matter.
Rik Pike, a spokesman for Christie’s auction house, said "the media and the level of international interest for this photo" had helped attract a much higher price for the photograph of Carla Bruni.

Christie's said money from the sale is being donated to Swiss charity Sodis, which provides clean drinking water for undeveloped countries.

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