Unknown Rembrandt portraits unearthed after 200 years

YEREVAN, MAY 15, ARMENPRESS. Two rare portraits by Rembrandt, unknown to art scholars and never placed on public display, have been unearthed after 200 years in a UK family’s private art collection, Financial Times reports.

Experts at auction house Christie’s came upon the paintings while carrying out a routine valuation.

The eight-inch-high portraits will now go up for sale at Christie’s showrooms in London on July 6, after going on display in New York and Amsterdam, with an estimated value of £5mn-£8mn for the pair.

Ancestors of the family, whose identity was not disclosed by Christie’s, bought the pair of small-scale oil paintings in 1824, at a Christie’s auction.

Painted just as Rembrandt was establishing a reputation as a sought-after artist, the portraits depict Jan Willemsz van der Pluym and his wife Jaapgen Carels, a couple with family connections to the artist.