Glasgow-born artist Paul Emsley poses next to hisoil painting of Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, the first commisioned portrait of her, at the National Portrait Gallery in central London, January 11, 2013.

LONDON | Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:53am EST

LONDON (Reuters) - The first official portrait of Britain's Duchess of Cambridge, popularly known by her former name Kate Middleton, was unveiled in London on Friday, and opinion was sharply divided over an image many deemed unflattering.

The 31-year-old, who as a glamorous future queen is one of the world's most photographed women, is portrayed in the large canvas with a faint smile, long, copper-tinted hair and shadow under her eyes.

Award-winning artist Paul Emsley, surrounded by a scrum of international news crews at the National Portrait Gallery where the work was revealed, described the duchess as a "wonderful subject" and "generous as a person.

"The brief was that it should be a portrait which in some way expressed her natural self rather than her official self," he said.

"When you meet her, that really is appropriate. She really is that kind of a person. She's so nice to be with and it's genuine and I felt if the painting can convey something of that then it will have succeeded."

National Portrait Gallery staff said the duchess and her husband Prince William visited earlier on Friday and were "very pleased" with the outcome of a painting based on photographs taken at two sittings in May and June last year.

"Her family are also very pleased," Emsley said. "To me that's the ultimate test in a way, because they know her better than anyone else."

WIDESPREAD CRITICISM

Public reaction was less positive, however, with views on Twitter and newspaper websites overwhelmingly negative.

Many comments focused on how the image had aged the duchess, herself a graduate in art history, while others took the artist to task for portraying her smiling slightly.

One Daily Mail reader from Canada summed up broader opinion in an unnamed comment.

"OMG, how awful! Rather than being overly flattering as many royal portraits are, this one is the extreme opposite. She's barely recognizable! Poor Kate, forced to say she's 'thrilled' when in all likelihood, she is as horrified as the rest of us."

Sunday Times art critic Waldemar Januszczak called the portrait "pretty ordinary ... He (Emsley) made her look older than she is and her eyes don't sparkle in the way that they do and there's something rather dour about the face."

Glasgow-born Emsley, whose previous commissions included former South African President Nelson Mandela, knew he would be in the public eye when taking on a subject of the duchess's stature as a royal and global celebrity.

"It's probably the most important portrait I'll ever do, and when you realize that, you do start to think rather carefully about what you're doing perhaps more than you usually do, and that made me more cautious than I normally am."

The duchess has recently been in the headlines after spending four days in hospital being treated for acute morning sickness having announced she was pregnant.

The National Portrait Gallery commissioned the painting of its patron, and it was given to the gallery by Hugh Leggatt through the Art Fund.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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VIENNA | Sat Jan 5, 2013 11:24am EST

VIENNA (Reuters) - Vienna's Jewish Museum holds hundreds of books and works of art that may have been stolen by Nazis, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

A screening program that started in 2007, years after other Austrian museums began combing their collections for works taken from their rightful owners, has determined that about 500 works of art and 900 books are of dubious origin, Der Standard said.

It cited in particular paintings by Jehudo Epstein, who while abroad in 1936 entrusted 172 works to industrialist Bernhard Altmann for safekeeping.

Altmann fled the country in 1938 when Nazi Germany annexed Austria, and his factory was "Aryanised", the paper said.

The widow of Epstein, who died in South Africa in 1945, tried in vain after 1947 to track down the paintings, some of which were later routinely sold at auction in Austria, it said.

Several are now in the Jewish Museum's collection, it said, citing information it got from the museum after many requests.

It quoted Danielle Spera, who became director in 2010, as saying the museum had, despite tight finances, for the first time hired in December 2011 a part-time researcher to check the provenances of its artworks.

"Anything that was acquired illegally ought to be returned. There will not be a hint of hesitation," Spera told the paper.

Der Standard said leaders of Austria's Jewish community, whose collections are on permanent loan to the municipal museum, voted in October to return an Epstein painting called Italienische Landschaft (Italian Landscape) and a work in a separate museum to the painter's heirs, who now live in England.

That transfer could take place as early as this month, it said.

The Jewish Museum is closed on Saturdays and no one there could be reached immediately for comment.

It contains, among others, the Jewish community's own collection, bequeathed in 1992, a Max Berger collection bought by the city in 1988, the Sussmann collection, on loan since 1992, and donations from a collection by Martin Schlaff.

Other Austrian museums have already had to grapple with the issue of returning looted art to the proper owners.

A painting by Egon Schiele, which was seized by the Nazis on the eve of World War Two, was shown in public for the first time in more than a decade last year after the Leopold Museum reached a settlement with claimants that cost millions of dollars.

The dispute was the second of two restitution cases the Leopold settled with the help of funds raised by selling another Schiele painting, "Houses with Colourful Laundry, Suburb II", for 24.7 million pounds ($39.6 million) at auction in 2011.

($1 = 0.6236 British pounds)

(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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NEW YORK | Thu Jan 3, 2013 5:00pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A portrait by Italian artist Agnolo Bronzino is expected to fetch as much as $18 million this month at auction, the highlight among top-priced paintings and antiquities that include works by Goya, Batoni and Rubens.

"Portrait of a Young Man with a Book," which auction house Christie's has touted as one of the most important Renaissance portraits remaining in private hands, dates to the early 16th century and is among Bronzino's earliest known portraits.

At auction house Sotheby's, the top lot in its series of sales is Pompeo Girolamo Batoni's "Susanna and the Elders," a 1751 work which is estimated to sell for $6 million to $9 million.

One of the very last portraits by Goya, "The Artist's Grandson," which has been in the same collection since 1954 and has been out of the public eye for some 60 years, is expected to fetch $6 million to $8 million, Sotheby's said.

Sotheby's is also featuring 16 paintings being sold by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to benefit its acquisitions fund, as well as property from other major U.S. museums.

Its sales, estimated to total from $90 million to $135 million, will be held from January 29 to February 1, with highlights on view at its New York headquarters starting on January 25.

At Christie's, where several days of sales are expected to take in anywhere from $75 million to about $115 million, top offerings also include a pair of Madonna and child paintings.

A rare, circular-format portrait by Fra Bartolommeo, which dates to the mid-1490s, is still set in its original frame and is being sold from a private collection, is expected to sell for $10 million to as much as $15 million.

Botticelli's "Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist," known as "the Rockefeller Madonna" owing to its five decades in the collection of noted collector John D. Rockefeller, is estimated at $5 million to $7 million.

Both works will be sold at Christie's special January 30 Renaissance sale, devoted to European works from 1300 to 1600.

"The 'Rockefeller Madonna' is a rare and important example of Botticelli's mature style that now holds its rightful place in the canon of the great masters' work," Nicholas Hall, co-chairman of Old Masters and 19th-century art, said in a statement.

The sales took in a combined total of about $120 million at both auction houses a year ago.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Paul Simao)

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Former director of the musical ''Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark'' Julie Taymor poses at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 2011 Governors Awards in Hollywood, California November 12, 2011.

NEW YORK | Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:56pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Producers of "Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark" have for now resumed litigation with the Broadway musical's ousted director Julie Taymor after failing to reach a final settlement of their litigation, court records show.

The development comes five months after Taymor reached a settlement in principle with 8 Legged Productions, the producer, in her copyright infringement case.

The "parties' efforts to finalize a settlement have not yet been successful," Charles Spada, a lawyer for Taymor, wrote in a January 9 letter to U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan. But he said both sides were "hopeful that a final settlement can be reached within the next few days."

The letter was made public on Thursday, and a trial is scheduled to begin on May 27.

The musical got off to a rough start in 2010 that included opening night delays, poor early reviews, injuries to actors and the firing of Taymor, who had previously won a Tony Award for directing "The Lion King." She sued 8 Legged Productions in November 2011.

Any settlement is conditioned on 8 Legged Productions reaching a separate agreement with Marvel Entertainment, a unit of Walt Disney Co, to extend its license to produce the musical in other venues, Spada wrote in a December 19 letter to the judge, also made public on Thursday.

At that time, Marvel and 8 Legged Productions had been close to finalizing such an agreement, the letter said.

Dale Cendali, a lawyer for 8 Legged Productions, said settlement talks were continuing, and both sides hope to settle in the near future. She declined to say why a final settlement has not been reached.

Spada, Taymor's lawyer, in an email, confirmed the "parties are still working together to try and resolve the matter."

A spokesman for Marvel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Bernard Vaughan; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Lisa Shumaker)

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Wed Jan 2, 2013 5:53pm EST

n">(Reuters) - SunPower Corp (SPWR.O) said it sold two solar projects in California to a company controlled by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), and would receive up to $2.5 billion in proceeds and related contracts.

Berkshire utility MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co will pay SunPower between $2.0 billion and $2.5 billion for the 579-megawatt (MW) Antelope Valley solar projects and for designing, installing and constructing them, the company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. (link.reuters.com/bag94t)

Construction of the projects, which the companies called the world's largest photovoltaic power development, will begin this quarter and is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.

The stamp of approval from a Buffett utility, combined with expected cashflow from the projects, will make SunPower more bankable and more creditworthy, its Chief Executive Tom Werner told Reuters.

"If you are a bank you are looking at us a lot differently today than you did last week," he said.

SunPower shares ended up 9 percent at $6.13 on Wednesday on the Nasdaq, their highest closing in about eight months.

Raymond James analyst Marshall Adkins said the monetization of the projects "does not alter the fact that SunPower retains a markedly high-cost structure and razor-thin margins in the context of a massively oversupplied market."

The projects, based in Kern and Los Angeles counties, will add to MidAmerican Energy's growing investments in clean energy.

It bought a 49 percent stake in a 290 MW solar power plant in Arizona from NRG Energy Inc (NRG.N) and acquired First Solar Inc's (FSLR.O) 550 MW Topaz Solar Farm power plant in California in late-2011.

The SunPower projects will sell power to California utility Southern California Edison under two long-term contracts.

California plans to reduce emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020, and by an additional 80 percent by 2050.

(Reporting By Garima Goel in Bangalore and Nichola Groom in Los Angeles; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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n">(Reuters) - Family Dollar Stores Inc (FDO.N) posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday as its emphasis on selling more everyday items such as cigarettes and soft drinks put pressure on margins.

Its shares fell 8.6 percent premarket as the company also lowered its forecast for the year and said that December sales, which came in after the quarter ended, were hurt as shoppers cut back on discretionary spending.

The discount chain added cigarettes and other tobacco products, Pepsi drinks, gift cards, magazines and some other goods to its assortment in recent months to better compete against chains such as Dollar General Corp (DG.N).

While that change has helped bring in more traffic, those items tend to carry lower profit margins. Gross profit margin fell to 34.1 percent in the quarter from 35.3 percent a year earlier, the company said.

Its profit was $80.3 million, or 69 cents a share, in the fiscal first-quarter that ended November 24, compared with a profit of $80.4 percent, or 68 cents, a year earlier.

Analysts on average forecast 75 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose 12.7 percent to $2.42 billion. Analysts on average forecast $2.38 billion.

Sales at stores open at least a year rose 6.6 percent. The company had forecast an increase of 4 percent to 6 percent.

But in December, same-store sales rose only 2.5 percent

Sales of "consumables" such as food and beauty products - by far the chain's largest category - rose 18.5 percent in the first quarter, the company said.

For the year, Family Dollar said it expects earnings of $3.95 to $4.20, below its prior forecast of $4.10 to $4.40. Analysts on average forecast $4.24 a share.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl and Brad Dorfman in Chicago; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

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Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) (front, in green tie) walks with Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI) (R) after a meeting with House Republicans about a ''fiscal cliff'' deal on Capitol Hill in Washington January 1, 2013.

NEW YORK | Wed Jan 2, 2013 12:16am EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks are poised for gains to begin the year after the late passage of a bill to avoid harsh tax hikes that would have hit most Americans and crimped economic growth.

However, harsh reality awaits any euphoria that comes from avoiding the "fiscal cliff". In two months, battles over further spending cuts and, in particular, the U.S. federal debt limit will come to a head.

The House of Representatives voted for a bill passed on Monday by the Senate that will raise taxes on wealthy individuals and families and preserve certain other benefits that will, together, soften some of the blow that would have been sustained without an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff.

That puts Wall Street in prime position to begin 2013 with a rally, even if thorny issues remain to be addressed in the coming months in Washington.

Asian markets extended gains modestly, with the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index of stocks up 1.7 percent. U.S. markets will not have a chance to react until 6 a.m. ET, when futures trading begins after the New Year's Day holiday.

"When you separate the fundamentals of the economy from the headlines, the fundamentals really suggest we can support higher prices in the new year," said Bill Vaughn, equity portfolio manager at Evercore Wealth Management in San Francisco.

The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index ended the year up 13 percent, its best gain since 2009, mostly shrugging off the debt-related worries that dominated headlines during the year.

Equity markets held up in the last two months of the year as well, expecting a resolution to head off $600 billion in spending cuts and tax hikes that could push the economy into recession if they stay in effect for long. While the deadline to avert the cliff was December 31, legislation can be formulated to retroactively prevent going over.

The back-and-forth in recent weeks has primarily been of concern to businesses, where confidence has eroded. Some slowing in economic growth due to the impasse is expected, but that may play into the hands of value investors if the market corrects in coming months.

"It appears as though politics will dominate for some time," said Richard Bernstein, chief executive of Richard Bernstein Advisors in New York. "That being said, equity market valuations already reflect this ... the stock market is attractive from my perspective."

Stock markets around the world were closed Tuesday because of New Year's Day. Some Republicans in the House had expressed concern on Tuesday afternoon that a bill would not be finished before U.S. markets open.

Many traders will still be away from their desks because of the holiday, indicating trading volume will stay near its recent low levels. The anemic action, coupled with uncertainty over the cliff, resulted in a spike of volatility in December, with the CBOE Volatility index jumping 13.5 percent in the month.

DEBT CEILING BATTLE REMAINS

The bill that passed does not contain the kind of spending cuts that many conservative Republicans favor in order to bring down the high U.S. federal debt.

Even as this battle recedes, markets will look ahead to another fight in the next few months, this time over whether Congress will approve an increase in the U.S. debt ceiling.

The White House has said it will not negotiate the debt ceiling as in 2011, when the fight over what was once a procedural matter preceded the first-ever downgrade of the U.S. credit rating. But it may be forced into such a battle again. A repeat of that war is most worrisome for markets.

"The spending side fight looms and it will be tougher," said David Kotok, chairman and chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors in Sarasota, Florida. "The Republican caucus is tighter on that side."

Markets posted several days of sharp losses in the period surrounding the fight in 2011. Even after a bill to increase the ceiling passed, stocks plunged in what was seen as a vote of "no confidence" in Washington's ability to function, considering how close lawmakers came to a default.

Economists at Goldman Sachs, in a note Tuesday, said the coming fight to raise the debt ceiling -- where Republicans are likely to demand spending cuts while President Obama pushes for more taxes -- "is likely to be at least as politically difficult as the last increase was in the summer of 2011."

During this fight, the markets have been less volatile, largely because the effects of the spending cuts and tax hikes will be gradual, and there was an ongoing expectation that a retroactive fix was in the offing.

(Additional reporting by David Gaffen, David Randall, Chuck Mikolajczak and Richard Leong; Editing by Neil Fullick and Paul Tait)

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Cranes tower over the World Trade Center site in New York's lower Manhattan, December 12, 2012.

WASHINGTON | Wed Jan 2, 2013 10:12am EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Construction spending fell in November for the first time in eight months, as an extended bout of weakness in the business sector outweighed modest growth in outlays on residential projects.

Construction spending dropped 0.3 percent to an annual rate of $866 billion, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 0.6 percent gain.

Businesses have shown signs they are holding back on investments because of worries over federal austerity plans, and the construction data could be another sign of flagging confidence.

Private spending on nonresidential projects slipped by 0.7 percent, the fourth decline in six months.

Spending on private residential projects, however, rose 0.4 percent, a reflection of the country's improving housing market.

Home building likely added to economic growth in 2012 for the first time since 2005, although the housing sector remains a shadow of what it was before the 2007-09 recession.

Public sector construction spending fell 0.4 percent. State and local spending edged 0.1 percent higher, while outlays on federal government projects - a relatively small component of overall construction spending - declined 5.5 percent.

(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Neil Stempleman)

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Job seekers apply for the 300 available positions at a new Target retail store in San Francisco, California August 9, 2012.

NEW YORK | Thu Jan 3, 2013 8:41am EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private-sector employers added more new jobs than expected last month even as a possible budget crisis loomed, helping the job market end 2012 on a high note, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Thursday.

The ADP National Employment Report showed the private sector added 215,000 jobs last month, comfortably above economists' expectation of a 133,000 gain. The report is jointly developed with Moody's Analytics.

The increase came even as companies worried the economy might fall off the "fiscal cliff" at year end, which would have meant higher taxes and, some predicted, suppressed hiring.

"All the labor market data…has held up very, very well so (there is) no sign of the fiscal cliff impact on the job market," Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, told CNBC television.

A last-minute deal to avoid going over the fiscal cliff was struck on New Year's day.

"The underlying economy has momentum and the employment data confirms that," said John Brady, managing director at R.J. O'Brien & Associates in Chicago. "The hope and prayer of the market is that our political leaders don't screw it up."

A revival in new construction jobs was also a hopeful sign, Zandi said, though the gains were likely boosted by rebuilding efforts after Superstorm Sandy hit the east coast in October.

November's private payrolls tally was also revised upward to show an gain of 148,000 from the previously reported 118,000.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' more comprehensive payrolls report due on Friday is expected to show the economy added 150,000 jobs last month after adding 146,000 in November.

(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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Ford Assembly workers Calvin Thompson (R ) and Jimmie Lackey install a battery in the back of a partially assembled C-MAX Hybrid vehicle at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan November 7, 2012.

NEW YORK | Wed Jan 2, 2013 9:03am EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. manufacturing closed out 2012 on the upswing as increased demand at home and abroad helped the sector grow in December at its fastest rate in seven months.

Financial data firm Markit said on Wednesday its U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index rose to 54.0 from 52.8 in November. December's reading was a touch below the "flash," or preliminary estimate of 54.2 but was still the highest since May on a final basis.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion.

Firms tied the faster growth to a rise in new orders, with one in five companies reporting an increase. The index's new orders component rose to 54.7, the fastest increase since April, from 53.6 in November.

The second straight monthly increase in new export orders also boosted the sector and could bode well for the year ahead.

"With recent indications that growth is also picking up in other key economies around the world, notably in emerging markets such as China and Brazil, and that the euro zone's economic crisis is easing, U.S. companies should benefit as stronger demand lifts exports in early 2013," said Markit Chief Economist Chris Williamson.

The pace of hiring hit an eight-month high, "suggesting underlying improvement in demand pushed away worries about the 'fiscal cliff' to the backs of manufacturers' minds," Williamson said.

For months, Americans had been worried about the "fiscal cliff", some $600 billion of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts that had been set to take effect in January, which economists had said could push the economy into recession. On Tuesday, U.S. lawmakers reached a deal to avoid the tax hikes and spending cuts.

(Reporting By Steven C. Johnson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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