A recently found painting by Flemish Master Peter Reubens is heading to Sotheby’s London, where it could fetch up to $7.7 million.
The painting, titled ‘Saint Sebastian Tended By Two Angels’, last went on the auction block in 2008. It was sold only for $40,000 because, at the time, it was believed to be a work by French artist Laurent de la Hyre. However, soon after the auction, there were rumors that the work could actually be by Reubens. A long-standing belief had been that the painting was a copy of ‘Saint Sebastian Tended By Angels’ – a work considered to be an original Reubens and housed at the Galleria Orsini in Rome.
However, in 2021, the two works were placed side-by-side and examined by experts. The analysis revealed that the Hyre work was actually the original while the painting in Orisini was a copy. Further X-ray tests confirmed the conclusion. Now, early next month, the painting is all set to be auctioned off to the public with a high-end estimate of $7.7 million. The caption under the painting bears the remarks of Anna Orlando, a Flemish art expert, who confirmed it to be an original work by the Flemish master.
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According to historians, the original work by Reubens was commissioned by Ambrogio Spinola, a nobleman from a prominent dynasty in the Republic of Geneo. After the death of his sons, the painting could not be traced for over two centuries – until its modern-day appearance in 1963 in Missouri.
