London’s prestigious auction house, Sotheby’s, has announced that the long-lost painting “Saint Sebastian Tended By Two Angels” by Flemish master Sir Peter Paul Rubens will be up for auction in early July with an estimated value of $7.7 million.
This auction marks the first time the painting has been offered since its attribution to Rubens was confirmed. In 2008, the artwork was mistakenly attributed to French artist Laurent de la Hyre when it was sold at Ivey-Selkirk, a St. Louis auction house, for a mere $40,000. However, the sale attracted significant attention, and subsequent research and analysis led scholars to recognize it as a lost Rubens masterpiece.
For centuries, the painting had been considered a copy of Rubens’ well-known work “Saint Sebastian Tended By Angels,” which is housed in the Galleria Corsini in Rome. However, a 2021 exhibition in Stuttgart, Germany, brought the two paintings together for a direct comparison. Scholars concluded that the once-misidentified painting was, in fact, the original, while the Corsini painting was the copy.
Sotheby’s has cited art historian and Flemish art expert Anna Orlando, who played a key role in establishing the provenance of the artwork. Orlando stated, “The very useful direct comparison [between the two] on the occasion of the exhibition in Stuttgart in 2021 would seem to reveal the higher quality of the work in private hands.” X-ray analysis further supported the scholars’ findings.
The origins of the painting trace back to its commission by Ambrogio Spinola, a Genoese nobleman and military commander from the late 1600s. The artwork remained in the Spinola family for a considerable period before passing down the female line of descent. Consequently, tracking the painting’s ownership history beyond the Spinola name has proven challenging, with a 230-year gap that scholars have yet to fill.
After resurfacing in Missouri in 1963, the painting made its first appearance at auction in 2008. Now, with its true attribution to Rubens established, it has generated immense anticipation in the art world, attracting the attention of collectors and enthusiasts alike. Sotheby’s upcoming auction presents a rare opportunity for art connoisseurs to acquire an authentic and significant work by one of the most revered masters of Flemish Baroque painting.