It’s the dream of every hopeful on Antiques Roadshow: that dusty old bit of tat that’s been cluttering up the place for years turns out to be a lost masterpiece worth millions. Unfortunately for most, the anticipatory gleam in their eyes soon turns to bitter disappointment when they learn that it really is just a bit of old tat.
Still, lost paintings by the masters turn up in flea markets just often enough to keep the hope alive. Only a couple of years ago, a tatty engraving picked up on a whim for US $30 turned out to be an authentic work by Albrecht Durer, valued at around US $50 million.
While not exactly a flea-market bargain, what was eventually realised to be a long-lost Rembrandt became a pretty solid return on investment.
A painting valued at $15,000 just two years ago fetched almost £11 million ($13.8 million) at a Sotheby’s auction on Wednesday after being identified as the work of the Dutch master Rembrandt.
“Adoration of the Kings” had been virtually unseen since the 1950s, when it first came to light. It was acquired by collector J.C.H. Heldring in Amsterdam in 1955. His widow sold it to a German family in 1985, where it remained until it was sold by Christie’s in Amsterdam two years ago.
At that time, Christie’s mistakenly attributed it to one of Rembrandt’s students or friends.
The monochromatic painting, which measures 9.6 x 7.3 inches, was purchased by an anonymous buyer for €860,000 (then around $910,000) at the Christie’s sale – more than 50 times the painting’s estimated value at the time. It was later identified as “a work of great significance” by the Dutch painter, according to a Sotheby’s press release published prior to Wednesday’s sale.
‘Our oopsie’, Christie’s were forced to admit, no doubt through gritted teeth.
After the anonymous buyer consigned it to Sotheby’s, the auction house embarked on an 18-month research project to arrive at the painting’s true attribution and value.
The examination, which involved X-rays and infrared imaging, as well as intensive discussions with leading Rembrandt scholars, led Sotheby’s to conclude the painting is “an autograph work by Rembrandt.” Prior to the sale, the auction house gave the work an estimated value of £10 million to £15 million ($12.6 million to $18.8 million).
Other ‘lost’ paintings just turned out to have fallen victim to bureaucratic ‘efficiency’.
A painting by the 15th-century master Sandro Botticelli, recorded as missing since the 1980s, has been found at a home in southern Italy.
The depiction of the Virgin Mary and infant Christ was discovered in a home in the town of Gragnano, near Naples, according to the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Naples.
Now, when they say “missing” and “discovered”, what they really mean is ‘Oh, yeah, we totally lent it to a family and then forgot all about it.’
The 58- x 80-centimeter (23- x 31-inch) work, painted in tempera on wood, had hung in a church in the Neapolitan suburb of Santa Maria la Carità since the early 1900s, after the church it was originally given to burned down.
When an earthquake damaged the church in 1982, the painting was given by the parish to a local family named Somma for safekeeping, according to a spokesman for the Italian ministry of culture, who told CNN that there is an official decree on file that entrusts the painting to them, and they are not facing any criminal investigation.
For the first few years after the family was entrusted with the painting, local authorities checked on its condition, advising them on where to keep it and helping move and clean it.
But for some reason the checks stopped in the 1990s and the painting was listed on the culture ministry’s inventory of missing works.
The Somma family, who no doubt couldn’t believe their luck for a few decades, agreed to hand the painting over to a museum for restoration and display. Possession being nine-tenths of the law, though, they continue to hold the title of the work.
Kudos to them, I suppose, for resisting the temptation to simply say, ‘Painting? What painting?’ when the carabinieri came knocking.
