Rembrandt painting, long attributed to his student, sold for $13.8 million
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It was sold at the Sotheby’s auction on Wednesday, December 6 for $13.8 million the work of the Dutch artist Rembrandt “Adoration of the Kings” (Adoration of the Kings). For a long time, it was mistakenly attributed to the artist’s student and valued at only 10-15 thousand euros.
The monochrome painting depicting the meeting of the three wise men with the baby Jesus appeared in the world of collectors in the 1950s, until then few people had seen this work. In 1955, it was purchased in Amsterdam by the collector Y.K.H. Heldring. 30 years later – in 1985 – his widow sold the painting to a German family, who kept it until it was sold at Christie’s auction two years ago, according to CNN.
Before the sale, Christie’s indicated that the author of the work belonged to the “Rembrandt circle”, that is, the picture was created by a student or an artist close to the famous painter. Then its value was estimated at 10-15 thousand euros (at that time about 10.6-15.9 thousand dollars). In the end, the painting was purchased by an anonymous buyer for 860 thousand euros – more than 50 times more expensive than the estimated value of the painting.
Later, the anonymous owner of “Adoration of the Kings” transferred the painting to Sotheby’s. And the auction house began an 18-month investigation to determine the true authorship and value of the work.
| The painting “Adoration of the Kings” was still created by Rembrandt. Photo: Sotheby’s |
The first mention of the painting was found in the 1714 inventory of the Amsterdam collector Konstantin Runst. It was then put up for sale in 1814 and again in 1822, after which the Adoration of the Kings disappeared from view until the middle of the 20th century.
In the 1950s, it was included in museum exhibitions and indicated as a work by Rembrandt. However, in 1960, the German art critic Kurt Bauch, who saw the painting only in a black-and-white photograph, described it as a work of the Rembrandt school. After that, the painting began to be ignored in the literature about Rembrandt.
The examination, which included X-ray and infrared images, as well as discussions by researchers of Rembrandt’s work, led to the conclusion that the painting is his work. A careful study of the picture revealed a number of changes and refinements made by the artist. The painting is believed to have been painted early in Rembrandt’s career, around 1628. At that time, the artist was 21-22 years old and lived in the Dutch city of Leiden.
“This exquisite painting is as much the work of Rembrandt’s brush as it is his intellect. All the signs of his style of the late 1620s are evident both in the visible painted surface and in the deep layers revealed by the study, demonstrating the many changes during its creation and shedding new light on how he thought“, – noted the co-head of the department of paintings by old masters at Sotheby’s George Gordon.
Read also: To attract visitors. The Rembrandt Museum in Amsterdam opened a tattoo office
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