Status: 01/26/2023 10:10 p.m
It stood unnoticed in a barn, covered in bird droppings – until a collector noticed the oil painting. The painting by artist Anthony van Dyck has now sold for $3.75 million.
It didn’t take two minutes: Then the mysterious find from the barn was under the hammer at Sotheby’s: a bidder bought the picture on the phone for 3.75 million dollars.
Barn find full of bird droppings
Even more unusual than the auction is the story of the oil drawing. Art collector Albert B. Roberts came across the work in a barn 21 years ago. “It was covered in bird droppings on the back,” says Bryn Schockmel, curator of the Hyde Collection museum in Glens Falls. “And no one thought it was worth anything.” But Roberts suspected that it could be a work from the early 17th century.
Roberts bought the painting for $600
The art collector bought the painting for $600. He researched for years. It was not until 2019 that an art historian confirmed: the picture is not only genuine, it was also created by none other than the Flemish painter Anthonis van Dyck.
“It’s the study for one of van Dyck’s paintings of Saint Jerome,” says Schockmel. “This is in the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam. The images match each other.” For a while, Robert’s find hung in the “Hyde Collection” museum in Glens Falls in upstate New York.
Part of the proceeds goes to the foundation for artists
The image shows Saint Jerome, a Christian saint. It is an old, undressed man who is shown seated with his head bowed and his arms hanging by his side. The sketch shows no background. What is special about it is that there are only two of these full-body studies from this period of van Dyck’s work, says the curator.
After the death of collector Roberts, his descendants put the painting up for auction. Part of the proceeds will now flow into the foundation of the same name of the deceased collector Albert B. Roberts: It supports artists.