In 2024, an appraiser found a 17th-century portrait among stacks of art in a Maine attic; expected to bring $10,000 to $15,000, it instead sparked a bidding battle and sold for $1.41 million/Image: AP
A label on the back of the frame attributed the portrait to the artist and recorded that it had been displayed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1970. Winter told The NYT in a phone interview: “The person who bought the painting for $1.4 million already got a great bargain. The value of this painting is probably in the area of $15 million. The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague says the Dutch Golden Age artist produced more etchings and drawings than paintings, with about 300 canvases attributed to him.
Mark Winter, an art authentication expert who has spent more than two decades appraising artworks, including paintings attributed to Rembrandt, said the portrait could be worth considerably more if its attribution is confirmed.
“On house calls, we often go in blind, not knowing what we’ll find,” Veilleux said in a statement. Veilleux said he recognised Rembrandt’s style when he first saw the portrait. Veilleux said that was not necessarily unusual for Rembrandt’s work Although the painting is unsigned. Maggie Fairs, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, said in an email to The New York Times that the institution had investigated the claim but that the passage of time made it difficult to establish whether, and when, the portrait had been displayed there. He also said the painting bore a strong resemblance to Rembrandt’s work and that the girl depicted looked like other young women in the artist’s portraits.
“The home was filled with wonderful pieces, but it was in the attic, among stacks of art, that we found this remarkable portrait. The painting depicts a young girl wearing a black dress, a white ruffled collar and a white cap. It is painted on an oak panel and set in a hand-carved gold Dutch frame. However, the museum could not confirm the painting’s exhibition history. However, the portrait’s attribution has not been established as definitive in the information available. The number of paintings attributed to Rembrandt is relatively limited.