Bendor Grosvenor and the Rembrandt that Got Away

Via Art Market Monitor, May 16:

Re-discovered Rembrandt Announced: The Financial Times revealed yesterday that a work auctioned at Christie’s as ‘circle of Rembrandt’ was bought be dealer Jan Six whose ancestor (also named Jan Six) was painted by Rembrandt. Six cleaned the work and authenticated it. During the sale, Six was bidding against Bendor Grosvenor offered some commentary, on his Art History News site, on spotting the work and hitting his limit:

• The painting was offered in London as ‘Circle of Rembrandt’, with an estimate of £15,000-£20,000, and ultimately made £137,000. For what it’s worth, I was one of the underbidders. Although I’m absolutely not a Rembrandt specialist, I thought on seeing the picture that it had an excellent chance of being by Rembrandt himself, painted in the early 1630s. The brilliantly painted collar in particular I thought was almost as good as a signature, and entirely consistent with the collar on the painting by Rembrandt of Philip Lucasz in the National Gallery, which was painted in 1635. What was interesting is that from the photos, the painting did not look that impressive. But in person, it was almost as one was looking at a different painting. That’s a common connoisseurial challenge these days of course; photos so rarely do justice to good paintings. …

Bendor Grosvenor Gives a Little Art History Lesson While Paying His Respects to Simon Schama: Getting over his disappointment over the Rembrandt, Grosvenor has a diary in The Art Newspaper ...MORE