NEW YORK.- Giancorrado Ulrich, an art collector from Milan, is suing auction house Sotheby's for $32 million for a painting by Parmigianino he sent them three years ago for authentication. The work is titled "Rest on the Flight into Egypt".

The lawsuit claims "Sotheby's is responsible for the loss of the painting."

Christopher Apostle, Sotheby's director of Old Master Paintings, told the New York intermediary through a letter that the auction house's paper records showed the painting had been returned.

Scholars concluded that while the painting came from the 16th century, it was not an original Parmigianino, the letter said.