A hidden treasure! A painting representing an angel, painted in 1520, was sold for 2.8 million euros at an auction this Friday in Toulouse. The family that owned it never imagined owning a work of such great value…
The work of the German painter Bernhard Strigel (1460-1528) was indeed in a pile of paintings, stored on a bed in a bedroom of a Toulouse apartment, explains Pauline Maringe, auctioneer of the Artpaugée auction house . Following an inventory for an insurance company during the summer of 2021, the owners of the work had requested an estimate.
“When I saw this painting, it was in an exceptional state of preservation for a painting that has survived five centuries. We entrusted it to our expert, who authenticated it,” continues Pauline Maringe. At first she had thought it was a copy.
The identity of the buyer unknown
“The buyer did not wish to reveal his identity, it is an institution” indicates the auctioneer. It could be the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi, which recently bought its counterpart. “The two angels are apparently the pieces of an altarpiece. It is not known where the central part is. »
The amount of the transaction for “The Thuriferous Angel Dressed in a Yellow Tunic” far exceeded the estimate, from 600 to 800,000 euros.
“The guardian angel of the family”
In this family of the Toulouse bourgeoisie, the painting was transmitted from generation to generation and had been baptized “The protective angel of the family”. They knew it was a valuable painting without suspecting that it was an exceptional work.
The first trace of the work in France dates back to 1816, when the two paintings were separated. Bernhard Strigel was the portrait painter of Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519).