Unknown Rembrandt portraits to sell for millions of dollars

The expert told whether it is worth waiting for a sensation from the sale of small works of the great master, which art historians did not know about before

News about the incredible finds in the “grandmother’s chest” is always uplifting. The latter in a matter of minutes circled all the news feeds. The incredible discovery was made by experts at Christie’s, sorting through the collection of old masters of unnamed Britons. It turns out that the ancestors of the family owned the paintings of Rembrandt himself for centuries. Two couple portraits 20 cm high depict an elderly Dutch couple from Leiden: Jan Willems van der Pluim and his wife Jaapgen Karels. The auction house experts valued the portraits at £5-8 million ($6-10 million). Is the discovery worth the declared amount, “MK” asked the expert.

Little is known about the find. It is reported that the British family has owned the portraits since 1824 – and bought them just at Christie’s (the auction house has existed since 1766). The portraits date from 1635. They depict Jan Willems van der Pluim and his wife Jaapgen Karels, whose son married Rembrandt’s uncle’s daughter. Portraits had never before been mentioned in the scholarly literature on the 17th century Dutch painter. Before they are sold on July 6, the portraits will be shown at exhibitions in New York and Amsterdam.

The last time Rembrandt’s work was exhibited at public auction two years ago: the master’s self-portrait was sold at Sotheby’s for $18.7 million at an estimate of $15-20 million. That is, the sale fit into the estimate. The same works are estimated at 5-8 million pounds ($6-10 million). Should we expect a record now?

“You only need to steal a Rembrandt – then it will actually be the crime of the century.” The hero Yevstigneev was right in the film “The Old Robbers”: any mention of Rembrandt, even in a completely ordinary situation, still arouses heightened interest, ”says Vladimir Bogdanov, an art market expert and specialist at one of the Russian auction houses, to MK. – What does the news say? Some of the distant ancestors (almost 8 generations ago) bought Rembrandt’s portraits at Christie’s, and remembered them only now, when the heirs were going to sell. That is, the situation is unusual in that during this time no one took care of including these works in scientific circulation. The portraits have not been sufficiently studied and have not been included in contemporary monographs. And now it will have to be made up. Will it interfere with the sale? I think no. The sale is hampered by suspicious gaps in the history of the existence of the painting (provenance) or unconvincing circumstances of acquiring the type “found with my grandmother” in the attic. There doesn’t seem to be anything suspicious here. If the fact of the sale to Christie’s is supported by documents, then what questions can there be? And the fact that for 200 years the heirs had little interest in the paintings they received – yes, this is all the time. The second question is: will such a surprise effect help the upcoming sale? Yes. A little, but it will help. Even the fact that the hype has risen is already beneficial – it will attract attention. Will this be followed by an overestimated sale? I strongly doubt it. The market for old masters has stagnated for many years. Rembrandt, of course, is an exceptional case, but this factor is already incorporated in the expert assessment. Are they expecting $6-10 million? Most likely, about that much will be given – in the region of 6 million rubles.

For us, the lesson of this whole story is not to be lazy to study the paintings of grandparents. There is a chance (albeit small) that there will be pleasant discoveries among them.