Nude portrait of Carla Bruni to go on sale

The new First Lady of France, Carla Bruni is in the news again.

Christie's auction house will be selling a nude portrait the French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife.

The portrait taken more than a decade ago when the now wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy was working as a model.

The gelatin silver print, taken by photographer Michel Comte in 1993, depicts Bruni in a standing pose, apparently in reference to the paintings of French neo-impressionist artist Georges Seurat depicting models.

Christie's defended its decision to put on sale a nude image of a serving first lady, describing Bruni as "one of the most beautiful women in the world."

"It's a work of art. It was shot in 1993 when Miss Bruni was a model and it's a tasteful nude portrait executed by a well known, respectable artist," Milena Sales, spokeswoman from Christie's said.

"Christie's stands by the works it represents to its clients, it doesn't censor or pass judgement on any content or subject matter. It's a perfectly respectable work of art," she added.

The photograph comes from a collection of photographs that includes works by Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon and Leni Riefenstahl, featuring among other images, nudes of British models Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.

newsby: ibnlive