ROME, Jan 6 (AFP) - Donatella Versace, who became artistic director of the family couture and luxury ready-to-wear label after the 1997 slaying of her brother Gianni, plans to auction off some of her personal collection of art and furniture, Italian media reported Thursday.
The auction, including of sculptures, paintings and furniture, were planned for April 7 and May 7 in the northern city of Milan, reports said.
It will be organised by the Porro C Art consulting firm, which declined on Thursday to confirm the report, saying only that the two days would be "an important rendez-vous for the art market."
A spokesman for the Versace group stressed that Donatella was auctionning off her personal possessions, rather than those of the family, in an apparent reference to its recent cash-flow problems which forced it to sell off a building in Manhattan, New York.
"The sale of the building was a business decision. The auction sale is a private matter concerning just Donatella. The company is doing well," the spokesman said.
The daily Corriere della Sera said the possessions that Donatella planned to auction off were collected by brother Gianni over 30 years. She inherited them, with her brother Sandro, after his slaying in 1997.
Donatella has a 20 percent stake in the group, while her brother holds 30 percent and her daughter Allegra Beck, Gianni's main beneficiary, the remaining 50 percent.
01/06/2005 14:40 GMT - AFP