A painting by the Flemish master Brueghel the Younger which belonged to a Belgian family was auctioned on Wednesday evening for 280,000 euros during a sale organized by the Belgian auction house Legia Auction, the latter announced.
Fewer than ten paintings by this master born in Brussels in 1564 are sold each year on the world market, according to experts.
And this very rarely happens in his native country.
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This work called
Meal of peasants in the open air
, representing a village scene from the beginning of the 17th century, was found in a castle in the vicinity of Huy in Wallonia, after the death of its owners, during the inventory of the estate.
Read also: In an Italian church, burglars think they steal a Brueghel but it is a copy
Ignorant heirs of this masterpiece
The heirs - eight children in total - were unaware that among the many works of art of their parents, transmitted for at least three generations, slipped a painting of such a famous signature, told AFP Vincent de Lange, commissioner -prisor at Legia Auction: “
They themselves did not know how this painting had come about since everything went back to the period of their great-grandparents.
The painting was in a sort of shed adjoining the house, sheltered from light, with a fairly constant temperature, so it has been very well preserved.
"
If only two of the eight children decided to take over the castle, it was all together that they chose to call on an auction house to sell the painting, when appraisals established its value "
around 300,000 to 400,000. euros
”.
Wednesday evening, "the
effect of the Covid requires
" according to Vincent de Lange, only one person expressed interest in the online sale via the Drouotonline platform, and the work was auctioned at the "
low estimate
" or 280,000 euros .
Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1637), who painted many festive village and country scenes, is the eldest son of Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525-1569), considered with Jan van Eyck, Hieronymus Bosch and Peter Paul Rubens as one of the great masters of the Flemish school.
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