Tutu 'clueless' about buzz of £1m painting

Press Bonhams

Tutu was in her teens when Ben Enwonwu painted her




Busayo Iruemiobe
BBC News Pidgin




The niece of the woman featured in a painting that sold for £1.2m ($1.65m) yesterday has said her aunt will be clueless about the buzz her painting is creating.
Ben Enwonwu's 1974 painting of the Ife princess Adetutu Ademiluyi, known as Tutu, went missing for 40 years, only to mysteriously turn up in a London flat recently.
Ms Ademiluyi's niece, Princess Ronke Ademiluyi, was at the auction of the painting yesterday and told me that her aunt was not caught up in the hype:
"When we contacted her about the painting after it had been found, she didn’t think it was a big deal. She didn’t understand the magnitude.
“Hopefully, when we go back and tell her it sold for over a million pounds then she'll probably realise,’’ Ms Ademiluyi added.
Ms Ademiluyi described her aunt, who is married and in her 60s, as deeply traditional and conservative.