The cover illustration for Tintin’s
Blue Lotus, drawn by Hergé, has set a new record price for cartoon strips
15 January 2021
An illustration for the cover of the
Blue Lotus, the fifth Tintin comic, sold yesterday for €3.175 million at auction, setting a new record for comic strip illustrations.
The cover created in 1934 by Georges Remi – better known as Hergé, the creator of Tintin – was sold by the Casterman family in Paris.
Controversy over image rights
The Casterman family are heirs of Tintin publisher, Louis Casterman.
The family say the drawing was given to Mr Casterman’s 7-year-old son by Hergé, who then folded it up and kept it in a drawer for years. The image was only found decades later.