A portrait attributed to Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) is set to cross the block in a July 6 Old Masters evening sale at Christie's London.
Titled Old Bearded Man, it’s dated sometime in the 1660s (the final numeral of the date is obscured).
The work was recently uncovered in 2010
This would place it in Rembrandt’s late period, a time when he produced some of his grandest works.
The painting has long been recognised as part of Rembrandt’s catalogue, but went underground in the 1930s – only reemerging in 2010.
Art expert Arthur Wheelock carried out thorough research on the painting, noting the “colour palette and brushwork entirely consistent with Rembrandt’s work”.
He described the subject as exhibiting “the pulsating sense of life characteristic of the master’s late portraits”.
Rembrandt is among the most celebrated of all the old masters.
His pair of portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit achieved a record $180m in 2015 (they were acquired jointly by Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum and the Louvre in Paris).
There’s no estimate for this piece, but it’s almost certain to go for at least $10m.
Jan Brueghel the Elder’s Figures dancing on the bank of a river with a fish-seller, with a portrait of the artist in the foreground (1616) is valued at £5m-8m ($6.9m-10.1m).
The piece was part of a Bavarian royal collection up until 1920.
The auction house describes it as being “among the finest works by Jan Brueghel the Elder remaining in private hands.”
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