2023-10-10 12:46:19
Rembrandt, The Adoration of the Magi, detail, circa 1628 © Sotheby’s / Rembrandt
On December 6, Sotheby’s auctioned a painting recently reattributed to Rembrandt. Estimated at 10,000 euros in 2021, the work is now worth between 11.6 and 17.4 million euros.
How can a small painting increase its value 1,000 times in just two years? It is enough that it is recognized as being the work of a great master of painting. On December 6 in London, Sotheby’s put up for auction The Adoration of the Magi (c. 1628), recently reattributed to Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669). Estimated between 10,000 and 15,000 euros at Christie’s in Amsterdam in 2021, before being sold for 860,000 euros, the painting would today be worth between 10 and 15 million pounds sterling (or between 11.6 and 17.4 million euros). ‘euros) according to the auction house.
A work from the Leiden period
The Adoration of the Magi represents a nocturnal scene in gray (in shades of brown, black and gray) from an episode in the life of Christ: the visit of the wise men during the nativity. This small painting (which measures 24.5 x 18.5 cm) brings together, according to George Gordon, specialist on the artist at Sotheby’s, several emblematic elements of Rembrandt’s art such as chiaroscuro or the stylized features of the Leiden period, at the start of his career. The artist used two distinct light sources of different colors: a first light in warm tones, emanating from a lantern located out of sight to the left of the composition, which illuminates the group of figures in the foreground, and a cooler white light from the Star of Bethlehem, which reveals the background figures.
Rembrandt, The Adoration of the Magi, circa 1628 © Sotheby’s
« This sophisticated painting is the product of both Rembrandt’s brushwork and intellect, explains the specialist in a press release. All the characteristics of his style in the late 1620s are evident, both in the visible painted surface and in the underlying layers revealed by science, showing multiple changes during his creation and shedding new light on his way of thinking. » Indeed, infrared imaging notably revealed repentance on the faces of the holy family.
18 months of research and analysis for its reattribution
For what The Adoration of the Magi was it considered a work of “ Circle of Rembrandt » during its last auction? All this would be a misunderstanding and a neglect of the literature on Rembrandt. In 1955, the oil on panel was acquired by Johannes Carel Hendrik Heldring, a Dutch collector. It was then considered an autograph work and was exhibited as such on several occasions between 1955 and 1960 at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, at the Gemeentemuseum Arnhem and at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht. The Adoration of the Magi remained in the collector’s family until 1985, when it was sold at Christie’s in Amsterdam and joined a private collection in Germany. Meanwhile, the German art historian Kurt Bauch described the work as being from the Rembrandt school and excluded it from the catalog raisonné he was compiling. It then loses its attribution to the master to become a painting of the artist’s entourage.
Rembrandt, Head of a young man, with clasped hands: study of the figure of Christ, Louvre Abu Dhabi, © Ismail Noor.
After its acquisition in 2021, the new owner of the painting then contacted George Gordon who supported his reattribution process. For 18 months, Sotheby’s then prepared a scientific research and analysis project so that this small format would once again be recognized as a work by the artist. After careful cleaning to remove old retouches and discolored varnishes, the auction house launches a technical examination using X-rays and infrared imaging before bringing together experts from Rembrandt. Faced with the results, Wolker Manuth, recognized specialist and co-author of the catalog raisonné of the artist’s paintings, supports the reattribution. The Adoration of the Magi then becomes a Rembrandt painting again. Unlike the Fang mask affair which is currently shaking the art market, despite the big difference in estimate, the 2021 sale will certainly not be canceled because it is the progress of knowledge on the painting which justifies this new reallocation and exponential increase in price.
An estimate reflecting previous sales of Rembrandt paintings
If the estimate put forward by Sotheby’s seems pharaonic, it nevertheless aligns with the latest sales of Rembrandt’s works. In July 2020, the house sold for £14.5 million (or €16.8 million) for a self-portrait. Two years earlier, an oil sketch of the head of Christ was bought for £9.5 million (€11.3 million) at auction by the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The Adoration of the Magi will go on a short tour around the world before being put up for auction. The painting will be exhibited in New York from November 1 to 12, in Los Angeles from November 14 to 16 and in London from December 1 to 6.
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