FIRST OFF . . .

The J. Paul Getty Museum paid $4 million Tuesday for a painting by the 19th-Century French artist Jacques-Louis David that sold for less than $4,000 in 1950. Bidding for “Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis”--called by Sotheby’s New York auctioneers “the most important 19th-Century painting to be offered for sale in America in a generation”--began at $1 million and progressed in less than a minute to the final record bid. The thousand-fold increase in the price for the 1818 painting reflects the rarity of such works, said Nancy Harrison, expert on 19th-Century works for Sotheby’s. She said the neo-classical portrayal of the mythical lovers in their final embrace was “all but scorned by critics and connoisseurs” until recently. A Getty spokesman said the Mailbu museum was “delighted” at the acquisition but did not know where it will be displayed.