LONDON – A painting originally valued at a few hundred pounds but later attributed to Spanish master Diego Velázquez fetched £3 million (€3.5 million) at a London auction yesterday.
The price was at the top end of pre-sale estimates set by Bonhams auctioneers, who discovered the portrait of an unknown gentleman among a collection of paintings believed to have been by British 19th century artist Matthew Shepperson.
Peter Cherry, lecturer in History of Art at Trinity College Dublin, whom Bonhams called “one of the world’s foremost authorities on Velázquez and his school”, decided the painting was by 17th century artist Velazquez and dated from 1631-1634, when he was in Italy, or soon after he returned to Spain.
– (Reuters)