The painting Judith Beheading Holofernes at its presentation in Paris.
It may have been painted by Caravaggio (1571-1610) and could be worth €120m. Photograph: Charles
Platiau/Reuters
It could turn out to be an Italian Renaissance masterpiece by one of
history’s greatest painters; yet the mysterious 400-year-old canvas was only
found by accident when the owners of a house near Toulouse went to fix a leak
in the ceiling.
The large, remarkably well-preserved canvas of the beheading of the general
Holofernes by Judith, from the apocryphal Book of Judith, was painted between
1600 and 1610, specialists estimate. And many experts
believe it could be a work by the Milan-born master, Caravaggio.
Labelled the Caravaggio in the attic, France has put an export ban on the painting to stop it leaving the country while
investigations are carried out.
Speaking to reporters, the painting expert Eric Turquin said it could be
worth as much as €120m (£96m), describing the work as having “the light, the
energy, typical of Caravaggio, without mistakes, done with a sure hand and a
pictorial style that makes it authentic”.
While other specialists have questioned its provenance, Turquin got the
backing of a top Caravaggio expert, Nicola Spinoza, former director of the
Naples museum. In an expert assessment seen by Agence France-Presse, Spinoza
wrote: “One has to recognise the canvas in question as a true original of the Lombard
master, almost certainly identifiable, even if we do not have any tangible or
irrefutable proof.”
Turquin said there will never be a consensus about the name of the artist.
Two Caravaggio experts he consulted attributed the painting to Louis Finson, a
Flemish painter and art dealer who was familiar with Caravaggio. They say
Finson possessed a number of works by the Italian master and made copies of his
pictures.
“But the third expert I met told me that it was not only a Caravaggio, but
also a masterpiece,” Turquin said. “Judith Beheading Holofernes must be
considered the most important painting, by far, to have emerged in the last 20
years by one of the great masters.”
But the French art newspaper Le Quotidien de l’Art quoted another expert on
the artist, Mina Gregori, as saying that it was not an original, although she
recognised the “undeniable quality of the work”.
In a statement, the French culture ministry has said the painting should
stay on French soil “as a very important Caravaggian marker, whose history and
attribution are still to be fully investigated”.
The export ban means it cannot leave the country for 30 months while it is
studied, and to allow French national museums enough time for its potential
acquisition. The Louvre Museum in Paris has already spent three weeks studying
it.
The painting, which measures 144cm x 175cm (56in x 69in) was found in April
2014, in the rafters of a house on the outskirts of Toulouse.
The family telephoned a local auctioneer, Marc Labarde, a close partner to
Turquin. After using cotton wool and water to clean it, he recognised a
17th-century painting from the Caravaggio school.
Turquin kept the picture away from the public’s eyes for two years,
cleaning it and submitting it to a deep examination, which included infrared
reflectography and X-rays.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/apr/12/lost-caravaggio-causes-rift-in-art-world
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