An estate auctioneer made a stunning discovery during a routine visit to a customer’s home — a potential Rembrandt masterpiece gathering dust in the attic.
The captivating “Portrait of a Young Girl” painting discovered in Camden, Maine, recently sold for $1.4 million — and could be worth more than 10 times that, or up to $15 million, if authenticated as a work of art by the iconic 17th-century Dutch master.
“On house calls, we often go in blind, not knowing what we’ll find,” said Kaja Veilleuix, founder of Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, in a press release.
“The home was filled with wonderful pieces, but it was in the attic, among stacks of art, that we found this remarkable portrait,” Veilleuix said.
The painting, which shows a girl in a black dress and white ruffled collar and cap, was sold in August after nine bidders bid for it.
The auction house originally listed the painting with an estimate of just $10,000 to $15,000. The portrait was described in sale materials as “After Rembrandt,” since the painting could not be fully authenticated and was not autographed, according to CNN.
Although the portrait was not signed, a label believed to be authentic on the back of it signified it had been displayed in a 1970 exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
However, the Philadelphia Museum of Art could not verify it had ever borrowed the portrait, the outlet reported.
Its sale price would be bargain-basement if the painting is authenticated as a Rembrandt.
Mark Winter, an authentication expert, said the ballpark value for a real-deal Rembrandt painting is closer to $15 million, according to the New York Times.
Another Rembrandt painting, “The Adoration of the Kings,” was sold at auction for almost $14 million in 2023. The painting was originally listed at $17,000, not far off from the listing price of the recently discovered portrait, until it was authenticated, the Times said.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, born in 1606, was a Baroque painter and printmaker. His work pioneered realism, dramatic shading and historic storytelling in the art world.
The number of known paintings from the renowned Dutch painter is relatively small and is estimated to be around 300, according to Mauritshuis The Hague, a museum that displays Rembrandt’s work in the Netherlands.
