TVSquad

Some actors from The Sopranos have won awards, Emmys, Golden Globes, et. al. At least one has achieved another kind of infamy. Federico Castelluccio, who played the Italian hit man Furio, has sold a painting inspired by the show for $175,000. The image, a variation on the famous 15th century dual portrait, Duke and Duchess of Urbino, is called The Duke and Duchess of North Caldwell. That would be Tony and Carmela Soprano of Caldwell, New Jersey.

Federico, who has no less that eight film roles to his credit for release this year, doesn't need to paint to pay the rent. He paints because he's an artist and -- clearly -- a good one. This original work was created after his appearance on the show. As Furio Giunta, the Italian made the mistake of becoming a wee bit too enamored with his boss's wife. Rather than stay in Jersey and potentially have an affair with Carmela, Furio returned to Italy and never came back -- as far as we know. David Chase may have a whole other story that was written and never filmed involving Furio. Chase is funny that way.

Remember when we reported earlier today about the portrait of Stephen Colbert that's up for auction? Turns out that they didn't find a painter who could draw hands; it's just that Stephen took a new photo in front of the old portrait.

Which means... the old portrait is also a photo! Netscape's Dakota Smith called up Comedy Central and found out from a spokeswoman that the old portrait is a digital photo made to look like a painted portrait via digital manipulation. Not a bad job, I must say.

Anyway, the bidding continues on eBay for the next nine days; the bogus bids like the one we described earlier today have been removed and the highest current bid is $6200.

While celebrating the first anniversary of The Colbert Report last night, Stephen Colbert unveiled a new portrait of himself, replacing the old one that hung over the set's fireplace all year. This year's portrait has three images of Colbert, as opposed to the two that were in the old portrait. In addition, they apparently found an artist who "knows how to paint hands," since last year's portrait painter decided he liked painting Stephen with his hands in his pockets or with his arms crossed.

So what's to become of the old portrait? Colbert is putting it up for auction, with proceeds going to Save the Children. Information is at the Colbert Nation website, but the direct link to the portrait's eBay page is here. One problem: the current bid right now is $99,999,999. Not sure if that bid was entered by Colbert's hench-staff or by a goofy fan with a mean streak. But, as far as I can tell, the auction looks legitimate. Good luck!