A long-lost painting by Dutch master Rembrandt was found in the attic of a Maine home and has now sold for $1.41 million at a recent auction.
Kaja Veilleux, founder, appraiser and auctioneer of Thomastown Place Auction Galleries, discovered the 17th-century portrait during a regular home visit.
“On home visits, we often go in blind, not knowing what we will find,” Veilleux explained to Water Working Group (WWG).
“The house was full of wonderful pieces, but it was in the attic, among piles of art, that we found this remarkable portrait,” he continued.
A long-lost painting by Dutch master Rembrandt, found in the attic of a Maine home, sold for $1.41 million at a recent auction.
In the painting, a teenage girl wears an elegant black dress, along with a white ruffled collar and a bonnet.
Enclosed in a hand-carved gold Dutch frame, the portrait was executed on an oak panel and is believed to date from the 1630s, when Rembrandt had recently moved to Amsterdam.
When Veilleux found the painting, he discovered it had a pristine surface and an established family provenance.
On the back of the frame, he saw a label identifying the portrait as a work of Rembrandt.
The label further indicated that the artwork had previously been loaned to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1970 for an exhibition.
Born in Leiden in 1606, Rembrandt is considered one of the greatest painters in the history of art.
In the painting, a teenage girl wears an elegant black dress, along with a white, ruffled collar and cap.
The prolific artist is estimated to have produced a total of approximately 300 paintings, 300 prints and 2,000 drawings.
In 2015, his Portrait of Marten Looten sold for $33.8 million at Sotheby’s, becoming the most expensive Rembrandt ever sold at auction.
The Maine Attic painting is believed to date from the period when the Dutch master supervised the studio of Hendrick Uylenburgh, a well-known art dealer.
According liveauctioneers.comRembrandt completed “dozens of similar portrait commissions, some of them with the help of assistants.”
On the back of the frame, he noticed a label identifying the portrait as a work by Rembrandt.
Despite the prodigious amount of art he created, his work remains incredibly valuable.
At the recent auction organized by Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, the portrait of the young woman quickly caught the attention of bidders.
According antiquesandhearts.comThe painting received a pre-sale estimate of between $10,000 and $15,000.
Starting at an initial bid of $5,000, the price soon skyrocketed to significantly higher amounts.
There were nine telephone bidders and two serious live bidders in the room, according to liveauctioneers.com.
Born in Leiden in 1606, Rembrandt is considered one of the greatest painters in the history of art.
Before the painting was sold to a European collector for its highest price, the portrait accumulated more than 60 bids.
The $1.4 million price is believed to be a new record for the most expensive piece of art ever sold at a Maine auction.
Talking with antiquesandhearts.comVeilleux said he felt very good about the unexpected result.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen until I start selling. I go on tour and buy stuff. I get to the gallery, get on the podium and start selling until I’m done,” he said.