Estate sales usually involve families let go of various household point like dinnerware and furniture . But every so often , a rare gem is excavated . event in point : the late sale of a painting believe to be byRembrandtforgotten in an noodle for decades that fetched a winning bidding of $ 1.4 million .
Accordingto the Associated Press , the painting , dubbedPortrait of a Girl , had been stored unceremoniously in the bonce of a home in Camden , Maine . Taking stock of the home ’s subject matter for an estate sale , family members call in Kaja Veilleux ofThomaston Place Auction Galleriesto see if any of the items were merit of a close spirit . Veilleux was astonished to find oneself the 17th - century painting by Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn tucked away in storage among several other artwork .
“ On house calls , we often go in unreasoning , not knowing what we ’ll recover , ” Veilleux say in a argument . “ The home was filled with howling pieces but it was in the Ionic dialect , among scads of art , that we found this remarkable portrayal . ”
Portrait of a Girldepictsa teenager in a ruffled collar and white hood staring serenely into the nothingness on a deal - carved shape . It ’s one of 300 or so paintings on canvass the artist is think to have produced in his life .
It ’s consider the art was in the menage — who has not been name in the press — since at least the 1920s ; a sticker on the back of the frame notes it was loaned out to the Philadelphia Museum of Art at one point in the 1970s . But how it first came into their possession is indecipherable .
Veilleux brought the picture to auction in recent August , resulting in a feverish bidding warfare despite a lack of exonerated provenance . Ultimately , a accumulator in Europe take it with a bid of $ 1.4 million . While that may voice expensive , it could curve up being a proportional deal . Once the painting is authenticate as a genuine Rembrandt , it could see its value surface to $ 15 million .
That authentication , however , can be a tricky business . Accordingto CNN , there ’s no sole authority that can conclusively state whether a workplace come from Rembrandt or not . Often , paintings will garner legitimacy through the consensus thought of experts or the endorsement of a major auction house like Sotheby ’s . In 2021 , the auctioneer conclude a Rembrandt titledThe Adoration of the Kingswas the genuine article . It sell for nearly $ 13.8 million .
“ The great thing , really , would be to go to Vienna with this painting , hold it up [ to similar works ] , have a discussion with a few experts , ” Rembrandt student Gary Schwartz told CNN . “ It [ was painted ] on panel , so you could date the panel , and very often you discover that the wood is from the same slab that have been used by other painting from the Rembrandt workshop . ”
While this may incentivize you to arrest your own attic , Rembrandts are an passing rare find . portrayal of a Girlis the first by the creative person to come into Veilleux ’s hands in a 50 - year calling .
