France: "Forgotten" painting of 1520 sold at auction for 2.8 million euros
The painting by the German painter B. Strigel, depicting an angel, was abandoned for years in an apartment in Toulouse.
To the great surprise of its owners, a painting depicting an angel that had been hidden in an apartment in Toulouse for years was sold at auction on Friday (02/04) for 2.8 million euros.
The work, attributed to the German painter Bernhard Strigel (1460-1528), was created in 1520. It was among a pile of other paintings, on a bed, in one of the rooms of the house, explained Pauline Marenz, of the auction house Artpaugée.
Last summer, as part of a list of projects on behalf of an insurance company, the owners asked for the painting to be evaluated. "When I saw him, he was in excellent condition, for a painting of five centuries. "We gave it to our art critic who certified it," Marenz said.
Is the buyer the Abu Dhabi Louvre Museum that recently bought his partner? "The buyer did not want to be identified, it is an institution," Marenz replied succinctly.
The two paintings, each depicted by an angel, are apparently the two side sections of a retable, the central part of which is overlooked.
The initial estimate for "Angel with incense, with yellow tunic" was 600-800,000 euros.
The family that has owned the painting for many generations, called him "Guardian Angel of the family". They knew it had some value, but they did not even suspect it was so great.
This painting first appeared in France in 1816, when it was separated from its partner. Bernhard Strigel was the portrait of Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519).
