２００年忘れられていたレンブラント作品競売へ　予想価格１５億円

【アムステルダムＡＦＰ＝時事】英国の一族が所有し、約２００年にわたり存在を忘れられていた一対の油絵が、オランダ美術の巨匠レンブラントの作品であることが判明した。ロンドンで来月、競売に掛けられる。（写真はオランダ・アムステルダムで、競売大手クリスティーズが公開したレンブラントの作品）
　レンブラントによる肖像画で個人所有のものは現在、この一対のみとされる。落札価格は５００万～８００万ポンド（約９億～１５億円）と予想されている。
　競売大手クリスティーズの専門家ヘンリー・ペティファー氏がその重要性に気付くまで、絵は所有者一家の元で「気軽に」飾られていたという。
　同氏は、「作品を初めて目にしたのは数年前、通常の鑑定作業中だったが、体が固まってしまった」と当時を振り返った。「この絵が２００年もの間、研究対象になったことがなく、レンブラントに関する資料でも全く言及されていないことに気付き、仰天した」
　クリスティーズは１８２４年、この２枚の絵をレンブラント作品として競売に掛けていた。現在の所有者の一族が落札し、代々受け継がれてきた。
　同社によると、絵の真贋（しんがん）を見極めるために約２年に及ぶ科学的調査が行われ、その結果、真作と確認された。
　１６３５年ごろの作品とみられ、レンブラント家の友人で、同じオランダ・ライデンの出身だった高齢の配管工とその妻がモデルとなっている。
　大きさは長辺が約２０センチ。富裕層の依頼を受けて大型の肖像画を描いたことで知られるレンブラントの既知の絵画の中では最小で、レンブラントには珍しい親近感のこもった筆致で描かれている。
　クリスティーズが「オールドマスター（西洋絵画の巨匠）部門における近年最大の発見」と形容するこの作品は、オランダ・アムステルダムのほか、米ニューヨークおよび英ロンドンを巡回し、来月６日、ロンドンで行われる競売に出品される。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/06/28-17:08）

As family heirlooms go, it doesn't get much better than a pair of Rembrandt portraits that the world had forgotten about for 200 years.
A British family rather casually enjoyed the oil paintings by the 17th century Dutch master until an expert from Christie's auction house spotted them.
Now the last pair of Rembrandt portraits to remain in private hands are set to fetch between £5 million and £8 million when they go under the hammer at Christie's in London next month.
I first encountered these pictures a few years ago on a routine valuation and was stopped in my tracks, Henry Pettifer, International Deputy Chairman of Old Master Paintings at Christie?s, told AFP as the paintings went on display in Amsterdam.
I was really staggered to discover that the pictures had never really been researched and never been addressed in any of the literature on Rembrandt over the course of 200 years.
The 20-centimetre high (eight-inch) oval portraits, believed to date from 1635, depict an elderly plumber named Jan Willemsz van der Pluym and his wife Jaapgen Carels.
The couple, painted in an unusually intimate style for Rembrandt, were friends of the artist's family and hailed from his hometown of Leiden in the Netherlands.
- 'Casually enjoying' -
An ancestor of the current owners bought the paintings at auction at Christie's in 1824, where they were listed as Rembrandts, and they have remained in the same collection ever since.
They've been sitting quietly and enjoyed by the owner's family over the course of two centuries... rather casually enjoying them very much, said Pettifer.
After spotting them, forensic work began on verifying that they were genuine.
Essentially the pictures were unknown, initially to be treated with a great deal of caution, but obviously needed to be examined and researched in great detail, he said.
The auction house enlisted help from art experts, including from Amsterdam's famed Rijksmuseum.
We were fortunate enough that they had their scientific team really very carefully look into them for nearly two years, Christie's expert Manja Rottink told AFP.
Experts looked at the line of ownership of the paintings, which are mentioned in an inventory of the oldest daughter of the portrait subjects, said Rottink, the senior international specialist of old master paintings at Christie?s.
- 'Very exciting' -
They also checked Rembrandt's signatures, including whether they had been done at the time in wet paint, and comparing the artistic style to his other works.
The conclusion was that indeed they are by the artist... it was sort of overwhelming how enthusiastic everyone was about this find, she said.
As the smallest known portraits by Rembrandt, they have also shed new light on the style of the artist, who at the time was better known for much larger portraits commissioned by wealthy families.
These are something slightly different, something much more intimate, said Pettifer.
The newly discovered Rembrandts, which Christie's describes as one of the most exciting discoveries we have made in the Old Masters field in recent years, have also been on tour in New York and London, where they will go under the hammer on July 6.
While it remains to be seen whether the buyer will be private or a museum, one thing about the auction is certain.
They've been intact all their lives so we're selling them together, said Pettifer.