PARIS : A long-lost painting by 17th-century Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens has been found in a Paris mansion, a French auctioneer said on Wednesday.
“It is a masterpiece,” said Jean-Pierre Osenat, who had made the discovery, referring to the sketch of Jesus Christ on the cross painted in 1613.
“It was painted by Rubens at the height of his talent,” he told AFP, adding that the artwork was in “very good condition.”
Osenat, the head of the eponymous auction house, said he had found the painting in September 2024 while preparing to sell the private mansion in the French capital’s chic 6th district.
“It is an extremely rare and incredible discovery,” he told AFP.
The painting has been authenticated by German art historian Nils Buttner, known for his research on the master of the Flemish Baroque, Osenat said.
Its provenance was certified through methods including X-ray imaging and pigment analysis, he added.
Osenat remembered pacing back and forth while a committee of experts was deciding on the authenticity of the painting. Then came a phone call from Buttner. “Jean-Pierre, we have a new Rubens!” he said Buttner had told him.
The auctioneer called the painting “a true profession of faith and a favorite subject for Rubens, a protestant who converted to Catholicism.”
“It’s the very beginning of Baroque painting, depicting a crucified Christ, isolated, luminous and standing out vividly against a dark and threatening sky,” he said.
Although Rubens produced many works for the Church, the newly discovered painting, measuring 105.5 by 72.5 centimeters (42 by 29 inches), is likely to have been created for a private collector.
It is thought to have belonged to the 19th-century French academic painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau and later to the owners of the Parisian mansion where it was found.
The painting is set to be auctioned off on November 30.
400-year-old Rubens found in Paris mansion
https://arab.news/ctfm4
400-year-old Rubens found in Paris mansion
- Osenat, the head of the eponymous auction house, said he had found the painting in September 2024
- “It is an extremely rare and incredible discovery“
Monumental art displayed in shade of Egypt’s pyramids
- “There is an estimate that it’s more or less five million people reached by the message of the Third Paradise”
- A thousand small cylindrical acrylic mirrors planted in the sand compose a Morse code poem imagining a dialogue between Tangun, the legendary founder of the first Korean kingdom, and an Egyptian pharaoh
CAIRO: Installations by renowned international artists including Italy’s Michelangelo Pistoletto and Portugal’s Alexandre Farto have been erected in the sand under the great pyramids of Giza outside Cairo.
The fifth edition of the contemporary art exhibition “Forever is Now” is due to run to December 6.
The 92-year-old Pistoletto’s most famous work, Il Terzo Paradiso, comprises a three-meter-tall mirrored obelisk and a series of blocks tracing out the mathematical symbol for infinity in the sand.
“We have done more than 2,000 events all around the world, on five continents, in 60 nations,” said Francesco Saverio Teruzzi, construction coordinator in Pistoletto’s team.
“There is an estimate that it’s more or less five million people reached by the message of the Third Paradise.”
The Franco-Beninese artist King Houndekpinkou presented “White Totem of Light,” a column composed of ceramic fragments recovered from a factory in Cairo.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to converse with 4,500 years — or even more — of history,” he told AFP.
South Korean artist Jongkyu Park used the measurements of the Great Pyramid of Giza to create the geometric structures of his installation “Code of the Eternal.”
A thousand small cylindrical acrylic mirrors planted in the sand compose a Morse code poem imagining a dialogue between Tangun, the legendary founder of the first Korean kingdom, and an Egyptian pharaoh.
Farto, better known as Vhils, collected doors in Cairo and elsewhere in the world for a bricolage intended to evoke the archaeological process.
Six other artists, including Turkiye’s Mert Ege Kose, Lebanon’s Nadim Karam, Brazil’s Ana Ferrari, Egypt’s Salha Al-Masry and the Russian collective “Recycle Group,” are also taking part.
