The house of Versace is to auction its valuable art collection once owned by its late designer Gianni Versace. The impressive collection, which once adorned the fashion guru's six-storey New York townhouse, includes contemporary, impressionist, modern and 19th century paintings is to be auctioned at Sotheby's in London and New York.

The collection is valued at between £6.5m and £9m and includes important works by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Henri Matisse and Edgar Degas. It is the second time Sotheby's has sold furnishings belonging to the Italian designer, who was gunned down at his Miami Beach mansion in 1997. In 2001 art and furnishings from the Florida house were sold for £5.5m.