Andrew Wyeth’s Helga Pictures sold

CHADDS FORD, Pa. – Andrew Wyeth’s storied collection of 240 images of Pennsylvania neighbor Helga Testorf has been sold to an American buyer and is no longer in the custody of the Brandywine River Museum.

Ann Richards Nitze of Washington, who arranged the sale of the Helga Pictures, declined to identify the buyer or the price to The Philadelphia Inquirer, which reported the sale in Sunday’s editions.

“The thing that’s marvelous about the change of ownership is that it’s back under American ownership. That’s so very important,” said art dealer Frank E. Fowler, who has represented Wyeth for 35 years.

Wyeth, now 88, stunned the art world in 1986 when he revealed a secret cache of 240 paintings, watercolors and pencil studies he had done of Testorf between 1971 and 1985. The news was a surprise even to Wyeth’s wife, Betsy.

Wyeth divides his time between Pennsylvania and Maine.