A "semi-contemplative" congregation of traditional Catholic sisters from upstate New York is suing a prominent Santa Fe art dealer for fraud in the sale of a painting by a 19th-century French artist.

The Daughters of Mary Mother of Our Savior and St. Joseph's Chapel, based near Albany, claim that Mark Zaplin of Santa Fe and Mark LaSalle, a New York state art appraiser, bilked them out of $1.7 million in the sale of Notre Dame des Anges. The 1889 work by William-Adolphe Bouguereau was shown in the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893.

According to the complaint filed in the New York Supreme Court, LaSalle and Zaplin "intentionally, deliberately, wantonly, maliciously (and) with evil motive ... perpetrated fraud" against the congregation.

Zaplin, who bought the painting of Mary and the infant Jesus for $450,000 in 2006 and later sold it for more than $2 million, denies the allegations, and suggests it's a case of seller's remorse. "I didn't put a gun to their head," he said.

Zaplin, who describes this as an arms-length transaction, said he never met any of the sisters. But he admitted, "Frankly, I was very lucky. I don't think I could duplicate that in today's market. Once in a while, you get lucky."

Bruce Goldstone, an attorney for the Daughters of Mary, sees it differently. According to him, LaSalle gave them a "lowball" appraisal, "then had his confederate (Zaplin) make the straw purchase."

Goldstone said the Daughters of Mary convent on Long Island acquired the painting from a parishioner. It was stored there for a while and then turned over to the "motherhouse" located in Round Top, a secluded area outside Albany.

The priests and the ultra-conservative congregation founded in 1984 are not affiliated with the Roman Catholic diocese of Albany. According to Goldstone, the sisters wear traditional habits and don't read newspapers or watch television, although they have a Web site.

The painting was eventually hung in a hallway, he said, where it was noticed by a novitiate who said it might be valuable. In 2004, LaSalle was called on to make an appraisal.

According to court documents, he provided a written appraisal informing the sisters that Notre dame des Anges was a valuable painting by an important artist and estimated its value at $150,000 to $250,000, more if it was restored. According to the complaint, he already knew that Sotheby's valued it at between $1.5 million and $1.8 million.

Zaplin said this week that Bouguereau paintings sold at auction in the last decade went for an average of $350,000.

LaSalle suggested that the congregation send the painting to the Williamstown Regional Conservation Laboratory at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., where the head conservator was familiar with the artist's work.

Paul Dumont, a "picker" who, Zaplin said, "bird dogs paintings for gallery owners like me," called him to say that LaSalle had access to a great painting. "I said, 'I love the artist; I never had one; It sounds cool,' " Zaplin said.

Subsequently he went to see the painting in Williamstown. It had been in dreadful condition, he said, overpainted and possibly left next to a heating source, causing the paint on the top quarter of the work to bubble. The Williamstown conservators cleaned the painting but had never finished "lining" it to flatten the cracks in the canvas, and it was in a terrible frame, Zaplin said.

Zaplin put in a bid of $350,000. Lawyers for the Daughters of Mary and St. Joseph's Chapel made a counteroffer of $450,000 which the Santa Fe dealer accepted. In May 2006 he sent them a cashier's check for $450,000.

In July, Zaplin wrote LaSalle asking about the purchase and why his check hadn't been cashed. "They kept the check uncashed for six months," he said, adding, "this isn't any way to take advantage of somebody in a sale."

After spending an additional $5,000 to finish lining the painting, Zaplin sent it to a period framer in New York where, he said, he spent $40,000 on a French frame from the 1880s. "That's the most expensive frame I ever bought," he said. And, in the end, "it looked like it should be hanging in the Louvre" in Paris.

Not knowing what to do with the huge — approximately 60 inches by 90 inches — painting and realizing that he wouldn't be able to sell it in Santa Fe, Zaplin loaned Notre dame des Anges to the Dallas Museum of Art, where he wouldn't have to worry about it for a while.

A dealer there, whom he knows, sold it to a client for a little more than $2 million. Zaplin reaped more $1 million from the sale, the Dallas dealer no more than $100,000, Zaplin said. He also paid Dumont a finder's fee based on a percentage of the sales price, around $100,000.

"We had a lot of deals going on at the time. The (arrangement) was kind of loose," Zaplin said. But Dumont was not satisfied.

"LaSalle found the painting, I financed and sold it. Those are the three things that happened," Zaplin said. "Dumont made the introduction. He's entitled to a smaller part of the deal."

Dumont thought it should be more and later claimed in court documents that Zaplin was a "straw buyer."

"I'm no straw buyer," Zaplin said. "I wrote the check from my account. In this case, I bought this for inventory. And I'll take a lie-detector test on this right away. I bought this picture. That was my money. Did I try to sell it for a profit? Absolutely. That's what I do."

And selling the painting for a profit was not a done deal. Its size and its subject were against it. "If it had been a beautiful woman, the same size, the same artist, it would have been worth twice as much," he said.

This deal was typical, according to Zaplin. "The numbers are a little bigger. This is one of the better deals I've done, but not the best." If he'd lost $200,000 on it, he said, "were those nuns going to give it back to me?"

According to Goldstone, the sisters thought they might have been swindled after receiving an e-mail, ostensibly from someone at Sotheby's auction house. The purported writer of the e-mail has denied it, Goldstone said, adding, "And I probably believe him."

Although Dumont hasn't been identified as the person who sent the e-mail, Dumont filed an affidavit in the case claiming that "Mr. LaSalle said we could 'screw' the Sisters and make a handsome profit."

LaSalle's lawyer, Dan Sleasman of Albany, called the complaint "full of falsehoods and defamatory," and said LaSalle would ultimately "hold those accountable who have defamed him." LaSalle has a "sterling" 25-year reputation as an appraiser and, "the last thing he would do is such a dastardly deed."

The congregation of sisters is seeking $1.75 million, which represents the difference between the $2.2 million sales price and the $450,000 the group received, and $50,000 in punitive damages.

Zaplin, who has been in the gallery business in Santa Fe for 22 years, is expecting the case to be dismissed.

A seller is responsible for his own due diligence, he said. "Once in a while you get lucky. But I'm swinging at pitches all the time. This is one I hit out of the park. But I didn't do anything fraudulent."

Contact Anne Constable at 986-3022 or aconstable@sfnewmexican.com.