Lost Caravaggio found in an attic could be worth US$171 million at auction
The 1600 painting, ‘Judith Beheading Holofernes’, found in the rafters of a French house, will be offered for sale in June
Imagine clearing out some of the clutter in your home and finding a tattered painting said to be a lost artwork by the painter Caravaggio that may be worth US$171 million.
That is what happened to a resident in Toulouse, France, who discovered the large painting, Judith Beheading Holofernes, in the rafters of the attic in 2014.
Verified first by auctioneer Marc Labarbe, the painting, which measures five feet (1.5 metres) high by six feet wide, is believed to have been painted in about 1600.
This is the greatest painting I’ve ever found. It’s very violent, almost unbearable. But [Caravaggio’s] an artist who embodies the text – he makes the text living
It depicts a scene from the apocryphal Book of Judith, set in war-torn Bethulia, where Judith seduces an enemy general in his tent before beheading him ruthlessly.
The authenticity of the exquisite art work has also been confirmed by Paris-based art appraiser Eric Turquin, even though it was turned down by the Louvre museum in 2016 after the French Government offered it for sale.
The painting’s existence is also supported by it being mentioned in two letters dating from 1607 to the Duke of Mantua, a 1617 will of art dealer Louis Finson, and an estate inventory of Abraham Vinck of Antwerp in 1619.
Turquin said: “This is the greatest painting I’ve ever found.