After 200 years, lost Rembrandt portraits will be sold

A pair of Rembrandt portraits that had been lost to history for 200 years are among the best family heirlooms there is. The oil paintings by the 17th-century Dutch painter were “rather casually enjoyed” by a British family until a specialist from Christie’s auction house saw them. The final two Rembrandt pictures still in private ownership are now expected to sell for between £5 million and £8 million at Christie’s in London the following month.

As the paintings were on show in Amsterdam, Henry Pettifer, International Deputy Chairman of Old Master Paintings at Christie’s, told AFP, “I first encountered these pictures a few years ago on a routine valuation and was stopped in my tracks.”

“I was really shocked to learn that the images had never really been researched and never been addressed in any Rembrandt literature over the course of 200 years,” the author said.

The oval portraits, which measure 20 centimeters high (eight inches) and are thought to have been created in 1635, show Jan Willemsz van der Pluym, an old plumber, and his wife Jaapgen Carels.

The pair, who were shown in a way that is exceptionally personal for Rembrandt, were close friends of the artist’s and were from Leiden, the Netherlands, where the artist was born.

casually taking in

The paintings were listed as Rembrandts when an ancestor of the present owners purchased them at Christie’s auction in 1824, and they have stayed in the same collection ever since.

Over the period of two centuries, the owner’s family has silently savored them while sitting in silence, according to Pettifer.

They were discovered, and “forensic” investigation was started to confirm their authenticity.

In essence, he added, the images were unknown, first to be handled very cautiously, but plainly needed to be reviewed and thoroughly investigated.

The renowned Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and other art specialists were consulted by the auction company.

“We were fortunate enough that they had their scientific team really very carefully look into them for nearly two years,” Christie’s specialist Manja Rottink told AFP.

According to Rottink, the senior international expert in old master paintings at Christie’s, specialists examined the paintings’ ownership history, which is stated in an inventory of the eldest daughter of the portrait subjects.

very exciting

Additionally, they examined Rembrandt’s signatures, determining if they were created at the time in wet paint and contrasting the design with his previous creations.

“The verdict was that they are, in fact, the work of the artist… The amount of excitement around this discovery was quite overpowering, she remarked.

They are the tiniest Rembrandt portraits that are known to exist, and as such, they have provided fresh insight into the artist’s technique, which at the time was well known for the considerably bigger portraits that affluent families commissioned from him.

Pettifer stated, “These are something slightly different, something much more intimate.”

The recently found Rembrandts have also been on display in New York and London, where they will be auctioned off on July 6. According to Christie’s, this is “one of the most exciting discoveries we have made in the Old Masters field in recent years.”

One aspect of the auction is definite, regardless of whether the purchaser is a museum or a private individual.

They have been whole their whole lives, therefore we are selling them all together, Pettifer added.