Anthony van Dyck
Portrait of a Girl with a Fan
Source: coxsoft.blogspot.com

Leading British expert on Old Master paintings Mauld Philip (Philip Mould) very lucky in the fact with regard to attribution. He has the gift to see the work of the great masters where others have overlooked it. Once he bought on eBay for £ 120 Gainsborough job. And in the last 18 months into his piggy bank finds added three pictures of court painter of Charles I by Anthony Van Dyck (Anthony van Dyck).

Last year Mauld determined hand of Van Dyck in the two papers' the unknown author of the XVII century "from the catalog of Christie's: paintings valued at 20 and 8000 pounds. Third Van Dyck sent down to the status of "a copy of the XIX century" and sent to the Museum's funds Bouesa in County Durham. Now, thanks to Mauldu, all three works in the art community has recognized the work of the legendary Dutch painter of XVII century.

the question of how a leading auction house overlooked the work of Van Dyck, the dealer replied, " It is possible that Christie's did not have enough time to study them. " In addition, auctions are generally not possible before the sale to clean up and restoration of paintings, which helps to see the true quality of the work.

«We, art dealers, daily peruse catalogs of auction houses hoping to find incorrectly attributed work. This may be the product of Tudor, landscape or XVIII century, as now, the work of Van Dyck ».

One of the works of Van Dyck dealer saw in the catalog of the Paris auction at Christie's last September: the Rothschild family sold the works of art, received restitution. Maulda hit "stunningly beautiful portrait of a girl." In the accompanying text stated only the "Dutch school, XVII Century" estimate of the lot is 15-20 thousand Euro.

Mauld and his colleague Bendor Grosvenor (Bendor Grosvenor) was ninety percent sure it is Van Dyck. Severe contamination has not prevented them see the outstanding work: "It was a portrait of the child, not a small adult, that was typical for children's portraits of the XVII century. Few authors could correctly convey the image of children - among them the best, perhaps, was Van Dyke ».

Soon a new version of the authorship of the portrait was documented: Mauld Grosvenor and artistic studies have found early XIX century, and photography of the 1940s, made by the Nazis. In both sources, portrait attributed to Van Dyck. Found out that the picture at one time owned a dealer John Smith, who in 1835 sold it at Christie's as a work by Van Dyck for 169 guineas.

All this information is finally convinced Maulda that for the work at Christie's to be fought. When the bidding reached one million euros, it became apparent that not only he realized the true value of a portrait of a girl. However, the victory still left behind Mauldom. After cleaning the fabric from dirt, the restorers found subtle brushstrokes, which was not seen in the catalog pictures. Now, as a rare children's portrait by Van Dyck, the canvas is estimated at 3.5 million pounds.

second job - the old man's head study - attributed to "a circle of Van Dyck," and rated 5-8 thousands of pounds. Mauldu found out that this is a sketch of the head of St. John to the unpreserved picture of Holy Family, known for a later version, written by Van Dyck, along with the students (now kept in the Manchester Museum). The dealer bought the sketch for 121 000 pounds - now that its attribution is confirmed by Van Dyck, an oil sketch is worth 350 thousand pounds.

Finally, the third work of Van Dyck dealer caught the eye of the full catalog of paintings Britain, being in public ownership (the so-called fund public directory - Public Catalogue Foundation). "Portrait of Olivia Porter" was falsely attributed followers of Van Dyck, even though the writing style, color and facial expression model made it clear at once to the dealer that he is dealing with the work of the master himself.

All three works now exhibited in the London-based Philip Mould Fine Paintings in the exhibition "Van Dyke Found».

Prepared Onuchina Maria, AI

Source: guardian.co.uk , artinvestment.ru