PARIS — For more than four centuries, people believed it had vanished. Found in a Paris townhouse, a 17th-century painting by Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens sold Sunday at the Osenat auction house in Versailles for 2.3 million euros ($2.7 million).
Titled Christ on the Cross and completed in 1613, the work disappeared from public view soon after and was known only through engravings and printed reproductions. Auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat uncovered the canvas during a routine inspection of a Paris home he was preparing to sell in September 2024.
“It is a masterpiece,” Osenat told AFP after the discovery, saying the painting was in “very good condition.” Initially, experts suspected the work came from one of Rubens’ many workshops, where the artist and assistants collaborated on pieces. Osenat, however, pursued full authentication.
He took the painting to the Centrum Rubenianum in Antwerp. After scientific analysis, German art historian and Rubens expert Nils Büttner confirmed the attribution. Büttner recalled calling Osenat, saying, “Jean-Pierre, we have a new Rubens!” Authentication included microscopic examination of paint layers, which showed blue and green pigments consistent with Rubens’ handling of skin tones.
The last recorded owner had been 19th-century French academic painter William Bouguereau; the painting was passed down in his family. Born in 1577, Rubens became a leading figure of the Flemish Baroque, celebrated for dramatic lighting, lifelike realism and meticulous detail.