Rembrandt in price: two miniature portraits of a genius were sold in London for $14 million

In the first week of July, Christie’s, which had previously put up nude photographs of Madonna, held a unique auction in London. Two portraits by Rembrandt were exhibited, which had been in private hands for 200 years. Their owners, to be honest, did not suspect what treasures they had at home. And now the portraits were sold for 14 million dollars.

The amount is amazing, because we are talking about very small paintings. Both are oval. Their height does not exceed 20 centimeters. And they depict a wealthy Dutch plumber and his wife. The portraits date from around 1635.

Experts at Christie’s hoped that the lots could fetch 6-7 million dollars. However, during the auction, the price doubled. Perhaps this was facilitated by the unusual history of portraits.

Art critics say that these are the smallest paintings that Rembrandt ever painted. The artist knew the plumber Jan Willems van der Pluym intimately. The son of Jan and his wife, Jaapgen Karels, married Rembrandt’s maternal cousin. The young man decided to become an artist and later took lessons from Rembrandt.

The portraits hung in the plumber’s house until 1760, when they were first sold at an auction in Amsterdam. Then they moved from one private collection to another for almost 100 years. The paintings moved from Amsterdam to Warsaw, then to Paris, and eventually reached London, where they were last seen publicly in 1824.

Then they were also put up for auction at Christie’s. And bought their ancestor of the current owners. Since then, portraits have been forgotten.

And recently, Christie’s Vice President Henry Pettifer, a recognized specialist in the old masters, to which Rembrandt belongs, was invited to a standard assessment of a private collection.

“I was amazed when I found out that for 200 years no one has examined these portraits. They are not mentioned in studies on Rembrandt. The paintings hung quietly for two centuries, and several generations of the same family also quietly enjoyed them. Pettyfer said.

A thorough examination of the authenticity of the portraits was carried out. For her, experts from the Rijksmuseum, the state art museum in Amsterdam, were invited. Pettifer’s conclusions were fully confirmed.

House Christie’s declined to say who exactly bought the portraits. The buyer conducted the auction by phone.

Meanwhile, Gustav Klimt’s Lady with a Fan was sold at Sotheby’s in London. The masterpiece was bought for 108.4 million dollars.