London dealer solved the mystery of the picture of Rubens

NEW YORK. Who says that the biggest and fastest profits can be made only by selling contemporary art? This is not so, but only if you have a trained eye and you are well acquainted with the history of art.

Peter Paul Rubens - Study with a Rider on a Horse

Last week, at the Sotheby’s auction in New York, the “newly found” painting “Study Of A Horse With A Rider” by Peter Paul Rubens with a gentleman on a horse became the top lot. With an estimate of $ 1 million, the painting was sold over the phone for $ 5.1 million. The most noteworthy here is not so much the final price as compared with the initial estimate, but the fact that 18 months earlier at Christie’s in Amsterdam the same painting was sold for only $ 14,000. Only at that time the landscape was “painted” in the background, and the painting itself was attributed to one of Van Dyck’s followers.

Christie’s experts knew that the picture has features similar to one of Rubens’ paintings, but did not conduct more in-depth checks. An astute buyer, who bought Rubens for a pittance and then sold it much more, it is believed that a London dealer with a reputation as a master at guessing the riddles of the past turned out to be.

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru