The oil painting of St John the Evangelist has sold for £540,000
A couple, who hung an old painting they didn’t like out of the way in a spare room, were stunned when it sold for a whopping £540,000 after it turned out to be an Old Master.
The anonymous owners, from Oxfordshire, had been told the oil painting of St John the Evangelist might be worth £600 by an auctioneer called to value some furniture at their house.
Expert James Lees didn’t have the chance to properly research the 3ft 6ins by 2ft 6ins painting before the sale and so wrongly listed it as being 19th century.
It turned out the unsigned work was an Old Master painting, possibly by a student of Renaissance great Anthony van Dyck, and dated to the 17th century.
Mr Lees realised he may have undervalued the painting when his auction house was inundated with calls.
Bidding for it started at £2,000 and soon went up in increments of £5,000 until the hammer fell at a staggering £440,000.
With fees added on the total price paid by the buyer in the room was around £540,000.
The vendors watched the auction via their smartphone as they were out driving at the time and ‘nearly swerved off the road’ when the hammer fell.
They own a farmhouse in the Oxfordshire area and needed to raise some quick money to pay for some urgent repairs.
Jasper Marsh, of auctioneers Holloway’s of Banbury, described the Old Master painting as a ‘good old fashioned sleeper’ – an antique that’s true value goes unrecognised for years.
He said: ‘The painting had been in the family for generations, since before the 1890s.
‘The owners didn’t like it which is why they put it out of the way in a spare bedroom.
‘I think they needed to raise funds for repairs on their farmhouse and James went to have a look at some items they had.
‘They directed him to the painting and I think he just said ‘OK, we’ll take it as well.’ They would have been happy to have received our original estimated price for it.
‘We don’t have a resident picture expert here and we were working close to the deadline for the sale so it slipped us by.
Jasper Marsh, of auctioneers Holloway’s of Banbury, described the Old Master painting as a ‘good old fashioned sleeper’ – an antique that’s true value goes unrecognised for years
‘We had viewings for three days before the sale and we took it down off the wall a couple of dozen times for people to look at. We also sent many images of it to people by request via email.
‘We started the bidding at £2,000 and it was between a bidder in the room and a phone bidder who dropped out at £28,000.
‘It then came down to two bidders in the room and when the bidding reached £200,000 it went up in £5,000 increments.
‘A picture expert looked at it after the sale and he said it was an Old Master connected to van Dyke, possibly a follower of or school of.
‘James called the vendors after the sale. They had been watching online while they were driving. They got very excited and nearly swerved off the road.
‘They are very nice people and are very happy if a little bit in shock. It was a nice surprise for everyone.’
The painting depicts St John the Evangelist and the poison chalice and is similar to a painting that sold in 2000 in Amsterdam to Rubens, who van Dyck was a student of.
Van Dyck, who was born in Antwerp, became the leading court painter in England and his most famous work is his portrait of Charles I which is in the National Gallery in London.
What is an ‘Old Master’ painting and who is Anthony van Dyke?
Anthony Van Dyck was the most important Flemish painter of the 17th century after Rubens
The term ‘Old Masters’ generally refers to the most recognised European artists.
The mostly painters—working between the Renaissance and 1800.
In theory, ‘Old Master’ applies only to artists who were fully trained, were masters of their local artists’ guild, and worked independently, but in practice, paintings produced by pupils or workshops are often included in the scope of the term.
Therefore, beyond a certain level of competence, date rather than quality is the criterion for using the term.
Anthony Van Dyck was the most important Flemish painter of the 17th century after Rubens, whose works influenced the young van Dyck. He also studied and was profoundly influenced by the work of Italian artists, above all, Titian.
Van Dyck was an extremely successful portraitist and painter of religious and mythological pictures in Antwerp and Italy. He was also an accomplished draughtsman and etcher. However, he is now best remembered for his elegant representations of Charles I and his court.
He was born in Antwerp. A precocious artist, his first independent works date from 1615-16, when he would have been about 17. In 1621 he was in the service of James I of England, but left to visit Italy, where he remained until 1627. His aristocratic rendering of Genoese patricians, like the so-called ‘Balbi Children’, were very well received in that city.
After a second period in the Netherlands, greater success awaited Van Dyck when he settled at the English court in 1632.
His authoritative and flattering representations of Charles I and his family set a new standard for English portraiture to which members of the court were keen to aspire.
Source: The National Gallery