FIRST OFF . . .

Vincent van Gogh’s “Portrait of Adeline Ravoux” is expected to fetch $15 million at Christie’s May 11 auction of Impressionist and modern paintings in New York. If the estimate is correct, the 1890 portrait of a blond 13-year-old girl will be the fourth most expensive painting ever sold at auction. The top three are all works by Van Gogh: “Irises” ($53.9 million), “Sunflowers” ($39.9 million) and “The Bridge at Trinquetaille” ($20.2 million). Adeline Ravoux was the daughter of the innkeeper of the Cafe Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, where the Dutch artist lived for three months until his death on July 28, 1890. One of three versions of the same subject, the portrait was sold in 1980 for $1.8 million in an auction of the Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch collection. The current owner has not been identified by Christie’s.