Paintings by masters fallen from the sky ... Unearthed in the dust of an attic or acquired at a low price at auction, paintings by masters sometimes resurface, causing surprise and excitement in the art world.
Madrid thus blocked Thursday the sale of an oil on canvas which was to be put at a price for 1,500 euros.
Reason: until then considered to be the work of a painter from the school of José de Ribera, the painting could be by Caravaggio.
Read also: Spain pre-empt in extremis a potential canvas of Caravaggio before its sale
And here, as eloquent as they are extraordinary, four stories of paintings by masters suddenly reappeared.
Christ mocked
by Ceno Di Pepo said Cimabue AFP, Philippe Lopez
A Cimabue between the kitchen and the living room
The
Mocked Christ
by Ceno Di Pepo, known as Cimabue, a major painter of the Italian pre-Renaissance, decorated the interior of an old lady's house in Compiègne, north of Paris, hung anonymously between the kitchen and the living room.
The owners thought it was an icon, ignoring its provenance.
During a move, an expert's report reveals that this is an extremely rare work by Cimabue.
At the end of 2019, this part of a 1,280 diptych was sold for more than 24 million euros.
The canvas becomes the most expensive primitive painting auctioned in the world.
France will ban the export of the masterpiece, repurchased, according to media reports, by a couple of Chilean collectors, to allow its redemption by national collections.
Read also: Paris blocks exp
o
rtation of all records Cimabue, sold 24 million euros in October
Judith beheading Holofernes
by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio known as Caravaggio Rome, museum of ancient art in Palazzo Barberini, Luisa ricciarini / Leemage
Caravaggio from the attic of Toulouse
The painting of
Judith beheading Holofernes had been
sleeping for ages in the attic of a house near Toulouse, in the south of France.
Its owners discovered it in April 2014, while trying to repair a water leak.
Under the thick layer of dust, a Toulouse auctioneer discovers lively features, an expressive scene and a perfect mastery of the play of light.
After months of examination, the expert Eric Turquin attributes it to the Italian master of chiaroscuro, Caravaggio.
Some specialists dispute the attribution but a majority consider it to be an authentic Caravaggio, estimated at more than 120 million euros.
The painting is sold by mutual agreement in June 2019. The buyer would be the American manager and collector Tomilson Hill.
Read also:
Judith and Holofernes
, the alleged Toulouse Caravaggio sold privately before the auction
Portrait of a young gentleman
by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn aka
Rembrandt AFP / Koen van Weel
A lost portrait signed Rembrandt
Dutch art dealer Jan Six has a passion for Rembrandt.
His grandfather, mayor of Amsterdam, was painted by the master in 1654. In November 2016, his eye was drawn to a portrait of a young man from the 17th century: a powerful chin, long frizzy hair on a sea of white lace.
In its catalog, Christie's announces the sale of this painting attributed to "
Rembrandt's entourage
".
A few days before the auction, Jan Six goes to London, discreetly examines the painting.
Intuition becomes conviction: he is convinced that this
Portrait of a young gentleman
is by Rembrandt.
He said nothing and, on December 9, won the auction for 160,000 euros, the price of a painting for a pupil of Rembrandt.
Back in Amsterdam, he submits his portrait to a battery of expertises.
All point to the master of the Dutch Golden Age.
Today many specialists believe that it is a real Rembrandt, 342nd known work of the painter.
Fruits sur une table or still life with a small dog
by Paul Gauguin and
The woman with two armchairs
by Pierre Bonnard AFP / Andreas Solaro
Turin train station Gauguin
A woman and two wicker armchairs in a garden, a still life with a yellow dog lying in a corner: of these two curious paintings, no one wanted at the auction of found objects at the Turin train station.
The auctioneer had had to re-auction at a reduced price.
A Fiat worker and art lover, Nicolo took them away for 45,000 lire (equivalent to 238 euros) and hung in his living room.
It was in the spring of 1975. For years, his son was mesmerized by these two "
anonymous
"
paintings
.
He wants to unravel its mystery.
One day, he recognizes in a biography of Bonnard, “
his
” verdant garden in the background of a photo of the painter.
For still life, the mystery is even deeper.
These are specialized riflemen who will unravel the enigma in 2014. These paintings by post-impressionist masters Pierre Bonnard and Paul Gauguin were stolen in 1970 in London from wealthy heirs, who died without descendants.
After investigation, the two paintings, estimated respectively at 5 and 35 million euros, were returned by the Italian justice to the worker because acquired "
in good faith
".