"Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto" by Picasso, est. £30-£40M at Christie's. Photo: Christie's

Picasso’s blue period 1903 Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto,  depicting a sullen, louche booze-hound, has been re-consigned to Christie’s for sale on June 23 during the London evening Impressionist and modern art auction. The work is estimated to fetch £30 to £40 million pounds ($46 million-$61 million).

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is the seller. Proceeds will benefit the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation. Webber had purchased the painting at Sotheby’s in 1995 for $29.2 million. [Update: Webber's foundation is the seller. Webber's foundation acquired the work using funds donated by Lloyd Webber.]

The work had previously belonged to New York collectors and philanthropists Jean and Donald Stralem. Jean, who died in 1994, was the granddaughter of Philip Lehman, of the investment banking  family. More on Stralem and her estate saga here.

Webber had initially consigned the Picasso for sale at Christie’s in 2006, tagged $40 million to $60 million. The work was withdrawn prior to sale following an ownership claim by the Julius Schoeps, which was settled in January of 2010.

Picasso painted his drinking buddy de Soto with a glass of absinthe and a pipe. The pair had shared studios in Barcelona. While Picasso went on to achieve fame and fortune, de Soto’s own artwork has fallen from the history books. There are no auction records listed for him on auction price tracker Artnet.

This latest news places Christie’s ahead in the spring auction contest. Coming on the heels of the $150 million Frances Brody consignment, slated sale in for May in New York, Sotheby’s appears to be the underdog after a winning fall season.