A 17th-century painting discovered in a Paris boutique for wallpaper

PARIS. During the repair in a new boutique of the American brand Oscar de la Renta in Paris, a large canvas was discovered, previously dated to the 17th century. Presumably, the canvas was hidden by the owner under the skin during the Second World War. The size of the painting is 3 by 6 meters.

The story began in the summer of 2018, when Alex Bohlen, executive director of Oscar de la Renta, received a call from Natalie Ryan, who is preparing the premises for the opening of the store. “We found something, you should look at it with your own eyes,” he recalls her words. The last time he received such a call about the store, their plans to move the wall had to be curtailed because of fears that the building would collapse.

Gritting his teeth, he boarded a plane from New York to Paris. Miss Ryan took him to the second floor of what was supposed to be a store. Something was hidden behind the wall, and it was not asbestos. It was a huge oil painting, in which skillfully combed and dressed marquises of the 17th century and various courtiers entered the city of Jerusalem.

“This is a very rare and exceptional canvas for many reasons,” says in interview The New York Times Benoit Janson, a restoration specialist who oversees the painting. Namely, “its historical and aesthetic quality and size”.

It has now been established that the oil painting on canvas was created in 1674 by Arnaud de Vuez, an artist who worked with Charles LeBren, the first Louis XIV painter and interior designer of the Castle of Versailles. After working with LeBren de Vuez, who was known for participating in honor fights, he was forced to flee France and ended up in Constantinople.

The plot was reproduced by Albert Vandal in the 1900 book “The Odyssey of the Ambassador: Travels of the Marquis de Nointel, 1670–1680”, which described the travels of Charles-Marie-Francois Olhais, the Marquis de Nointel and d’Angerville, Ambassador Louis XIV to the Ottoman court. On page 129 is a rotogravure depicting the Marquis de Nointel arriving in Jerusalem with great pomp.

Why the canvas turned out to be glued to gauze to the wall is still unknown. There is speculation that perhaps this happened during World War II. As a result of storage conditions, the varnish in the picture darkened. Also present are the results of previous restorations.

Oscar de la Renta planned to open their new store in Paris at the end of January 2019, in time for the show couture. As a result of the work of restorers, the opening of the store is postponed for several months.