A rare painting by Van Dyck reached 3 million dollars! – He was full of crap and forgotten on a farm

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The oil painting was discovered four centuries after its creation, in 2002, on a farm in New York

An oil painting which had been found on a New York farm, littered and in poor condition, turned out to be the work of Anthony Van Dyck, which sold for over $3 million. It is an oil painting by Anthony van Dyck, apparently created early in his career and discovered four centuries later on a farm.

This is a sketch of Saint Jerome, one of only two known studies by Van Dyck, based on “living” models, probably created between 1615 and 1618, when the young Flemish painter was working as an assistant to Peter Paul Rubens , in his studio in Antwerp. The work depicts a sullen old man, a depiction that served as Van Dyck’s study.

The oil painting was discovered four centuries after its creation, in 2002, on a farm in New York, and was acquired at auction by the collector Albert B. Roberts. Although the back of the canvas was covered in bird droppings, Roberts thought it was a Dutch Golden Age work and bought it for $600.

“The person who found it, Albert B. Roberts, was a passionate collector of ‘lost’ works, describing his collection as an ‘orphanage for lost art that had suffered from neglect,'” said Sotheby’s auction house.

The painting sold Thursday for $3.1 million. Offered to Sotheby’s by Roberts’ estate. And a portion of the proceeds will go to the Albert B. Roberts Foundation Inc, which provides financial support to artists and other charities, according to the auction house.

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