'Fake' painting hidden behind door turns out to be lost masterpiece
‘Fake’ painting hidden behind a door is set to sell for £700,000 after expert tells stunned family it’s a GENUINE lost masterpiece
- Painting left hanging on the back of a door, believed for decades to be a fake
- ‘Masterpiece’ will be auctioned in Paris, estimated to fetch up to £700,000
A lost ‘masterpiece’, long believed to be a fake and kept hanging on the back of a door, has been revealed as an authentic Brueghel painting valued at £700,000.
The painting L’Avocat du village (the Village Lawyer) will be presented for auction in Paris on Tuesday having been discovered by auctioneers when valuing a family home.
The family, who wishes to remain unknown, had kept the famous artwork in the house ‘behind a door in the television room’, according to Malo de Lussac of auctioneers Daguerre Val de Loire.
The painting is one of Brueghel’s largest known works, measuring 112cm high and 184cm wide, and was unknown in the art world as the most recent generation of the family who had possessed it since the 1900s thought it was fake.
Experts now say it is likely to fetch 600,000 (£527,561) to 800,000 euros (£703,414) at auction.
The painting L’avocat de village, or ‘The Village Lawyer’, by Pieter Brueghel The Young, estimated to be dating before 1618, in display at the Drouot auction house in Paris
Art expert Stephane Pinta points to the rare painting also known as the ‘Payment of the Yearly Dues’ or ‘The Peasants’ Lawyer’ by Pieter Brueghel The Young
‘I started estimating this room and when I turned back, I saw this painting. It was a very good surprise for me,’ de Lussac said.
He believes the artwork was bought as an authentic one, but over several generations had completely lost its authenticity within the family.
‘And that’s what’s incredible,’ he said. ‘We are giving them back this authenticity by saying “in fact your artwork is real”‘.
Brueghel the Younger, whose father Brueghel the Elder died when he was five, did not use one of his father’s compositions for this painting as he usually did but did revisit the popular theme of the village lawyer.
Art experts estimated that the artwork was painted between 1615 and 1617.
Breughel was born in Brussels in 1564 and died in Antwerp in 1638.
The Flemish painter was registered as a master in the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp.
He later took on nine apprentices under him, considered an authority in his craft.
Despite his popularity, Breughel was likely quite poor and was unable to benefit from the value his work attracts today.
Previous auctions of his work have fetched figures into the millions of pounds.
The Massacre of the Innocents, which tells the biblical story of the ‘massacre of the innocents’ in the Gospel of Matthew through a wintery scene in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years’ War, was valued at between £1mn and £1.5mn.
Visitors view the ‘Payment of the Yearly Dues’, also known as ‘The Peasants’ Lawyer’ by Pieter Brueghel The Young, estimated to be dating before 1618, at the Drouot auction house in Paris
Gallery assistants with the Massacre of the Innocents, Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564 – 1638), estimated between £1,000,000 – £1,500,000, during a photo call for highlights from the forthcoming Classic Week Sales, at Christies, London
The Crucifixion or The Calvary by Brueghel the Younger in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
In 2017, a lost Jackson Pollock painting found in a garage was valued at $15mn.
It was found when an Arizona man was helping a neighbour move house.
The pair initially called an auctioneer to value a signed LA Lakers poster worth about $300.
All were surprised when he found the missing artwork at the bottom of a stack of belongings.
‘God, that looks like a Jackson Pollock,’ he said.
Source: Read Full Article