$1,000,000: "Bares for Rares" - Susi discovers lost painting in private household
Created: 08/18/2022 11:34 am
By: Claire Weiss
Susi talks about her sense of achievement on Instagram.
© Instagram/Bares for Rares
In an Instagram video, Susanne Steiger remembers a very special sale.
In a private household she discovered a baroque painting that had been missing for 30 years.
On behalf of the owner, the "Bares for Rares" dealer was able to auction it for almost one million euros.
"I opened this tulip in a private household in Bonn," says Susi in a video that the official "Bares for Rares" account shares on Instagram.
The 400-year-old painting is the "Tulip Summer Beautiful" by the Dutch artist Balthasar van der Ast (1593/94-1657).
It was last exhibited in Amsterdam in 1984.
Since then, the still life has been considered lost.
By coincidence: "Bares for Rares" star Susi finds a work of art that has disappeared for 30 years
It was pure coincidence that Susanne Steiger found the work of art.
As the Aachener Zeitung reports, the "Bares for Rares" expert was with her colleague, the diamond appraiser Christian-Frederik Plötz, at a customer's home to view his treasures.
Normally Susi deals in jewellery, but when she saw the painting of the tulip she knew immediately that it had to be something very special.
Coincidentally, someone else was looking for the painting at the same time.
The Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum in Aachen was planning an exhibition entitled “More beautiful than reality.
The Still Lifes of Balthasar van der Ast”, which was due to start in March 2016.
The lost work was to have a special place in it - but first it had to be found.
Thanks to good marketing: painting is auctioned for almost one million euros
The curator Sarvenaz Ayooghi launched an appeal online to find out if anyone knew the whereabouts of the painting.
The chances were extremely bad, in the scene Ayooghi was only smiled at by her colleagues.
But fate played right into her hands.
Plötz became aware of the curator's request.
And so the beautiful tulip could be exhibited in the Aachen Museum.
Later the owner must have decided to sell the work of art, which was created in 1625.
Because Susi Steiger offered it on his behalf at Christie's auction house.
"We marketed it really well," explains the "Bares for Rares" dealer proudly.
Because she made an impressive sum.
She herself reports a million dollars.
According to the auction house's website, the painting fetched £809,000 at auction - the equivalent of around €950,000.
It was previously estimated at between £300,000 and £500,000.
"Marketing is everything," says Susi
.
Baroque master van der Ast liked to paint flowers and fruits
In his paintings, van der Ast focused primarily on flowers, fruits and insects.
The butterfly depicted in the "Summer Beautiful Tulip" has a symbolic function: it stands for transience - a popular baroque motif.
Incidentally, the oil painting is rather small for the steep price: the dimensions are 26.5 x 20 cm.
also read
"Horror Tattoos": Schlager fans horrified by Marie Reim's look on "Always Sundays"
"Locked up for almost three years": pop star Nicole fights back tears in "Always Again on Sundays"
Smurfs, crosses, food: the strangest deals in "Bares for Rares" in pictures
View photo gallery
It's not the first time that Susanne Steiger has been enthusiastic about a painting.
When she saw a Chagall at "Bares für Rares", the dealer was over the moon: "It was hanging in our bedroom".
Sources used:
Instagram/Bares für rares, aachener-zeitung.de, christies.com