A painting depicting Jesus\u2019 crucifixion rendered by Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens sold for nearly $3 million at an auction in Versailles Sunday after it was hidden for nearly four centuries.<\/p>\n
The masterpiece was only recently uncovered in a private townhouse in Paris, just over 400 years since it was finished. <\/p>\n
Rubens was best known for his other depictions of Jesus, namely \u201cChrist on the Cross,\u201d which shows the full scene of the crucifixion, complete with the two thieves flanking Jesus.<\/p>\n
A long-lost painting by Peter Paul Rubens sold for $2.7 million at auction on Sunday. AP<\/p>\n
The newly discovered painting, though, is a solo portrait of Jesus before a particularly bleak background. Where \u201cChrist on the Cross\u201d places the viewer in the chaos of the crucifixion, the long-lost piece is isolated and appears more like an account of the aftermath after the crowd faded.<\/p>\n
It sold for a record $2.7 million through the Osenat auction house as part of a French collection, and many surmise may have been one of Rubens\u2019 abandoned workshops.<\/p>\n
The piece was found in a private townhouse in Paris. AP<\/p>\n
\u201cI immediately had a hunch about this painting, and I did everything I could to try to have it authenticated. And finally, we managed to have it authenticated by the Rubenianum, which is the Rubens committee in Antwerp,\u201d auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat said.<\/p>\n
Nils B\u00fcttner, a Rubens expert, explained that while the Baroque mainstay is best known for his crucifixion works, he rarely opted to depict \u201cthe crucified Christ as a dead body on the cross.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo this is the one and only painting showing blood and water coming out of the side wound of Christ, and this is something that Rubens only painted once,\u201d B\u00fcttner told auctiongoers.<\/p>\n
The piece was finished sometime during the early 1600s. REUTERS<\/p>\n
The Osenat auction house assured that they verified the painting\u2019s authenticity through scientific analysis, including microscopic examination of its layers. <\/p>\n
The in-depth study revealed that the painting had layers of white, black and red to help pigment the skin, which many artists do. However, it also had extra blue and green pigments, which Rubens was known to use when painting human skin.<\/p>\n
Rubens famously depicted Jesus\u2019 crucifixion in another piece, dubbed \u201cChrist on the Cross.\u201d AP<\/p>\n
Eric Turquin, an art expert, told the eager bidders that the painting disappeared in the early 1600s not long after it was finished. He said that they believe it somehow fell into the hands of 19th-century French classic painter William Bouguereau, who passed it down in his family until it wound up in the fateful townhouse in Paris.<\/p>\n