A 17th-century masterpiece discovered at the Ritz in Paris

PARIS. Hotel Ritz Paris, a hotel in Paris known for its bar and pool, is also popular among the French as a place for dating. The interior of the hotel has always used paintings, which, however, few people paid attention to.

Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) - The Sacrifice of Polycena, 1647

This week, Christie’s auction house announced that one of the paintings that hung at the Ritz for several years was nothing more than a 17th-century masterpiece, Le Sacrifice de Polyxène, painted by Charles Le Brun. How the painting got into the hotel is still not known, archival records in this regard have not been preserved.

The painting dates from 1647. She hung over a table in a hotel room where Coco Chanel had lived for more than 30 years and was discovered only last summer, when the hotel closed for long-term repairs.

“This is a magical discovery, the picture has been hanging by no one for at least 50 years,” said Cécile Bernard, an expert at Christie’s.

The painting depicts the death scene of Polyxena, the youngest daughter of King Priam in Troy. According to legend, she was sacrificed on the grave of Achilles, who was in love with her. The work of art will be exhibited at Christie’s auction house in New York from January 26 to 29, and the painting will be put up for auction on April 15.

Christie’s experts estimate the canvas in the amount of about 500,000 euros (665,000 US dollars).

“The Sacrifice of Polixena” is an early work by Lebrun (1619-1690), whose monumental paintings adorn the galleries of Apollo in the Louvre and in the Great Mirror Hall in Versailles. Experts say that the painting, which is signed by the initials of the artist, was painted for a private collector. Lebrun was the “first painter of the king” Louis XIV, who called him “the greatest French artist of all time.

Anna Sidorova