Two Rembrandt paintings are up for auction after being hidden away in a private collection for almost 200 years. The pair are expected to fetch between 5 million and 8 million pounds ($6.25 million to $10 million), according to auction house Christie’s, which is selling the paintings.
The works of art, portraits of the relatives of the artist Jan Willemsz. van der Pluym and Jaapgen Carels are signed and dated 1635, according to a press release from Christie’s.
The paintings remained in the artists family and moved between private collections until James Murray put them up for sale at Christie’s in 1824. They have remained in a private collection in the UK and since since then they have not been seen by the public.
RELATED: Would You Buy Maggie Murdaugh’s Monogrammed Snake Print Pillows? Items from the Murdaugh family home will be auctioned off
The current owners have not been named, but Henry Pettifer, international vice president of Old Master Paintings at Christie’s, told CNN the paintings were discovered during a “routine appraisal to look at the contents of a house.”
He said the owners were shocked by the findings. “I don’t think they’ve looked into it,” he added. “They had no expectations for the paintings.”
The paintings will tour New York and Amsterdam in June, then be shown during Christie’s Classic Week in London from 1 July and sold on 6 July.
“This is one of the most exciting discoveries we have made in the Old Masters field in recent years and we are delighted to bring this pair of Rembrandt portraits to auction this summer, almost 200 years after they were last seen in public “, Pettifer. he said in the statement.
RELATED: From trading baseball cards to $300 million in sports memorabilia sales, Ken Goldin is the ‘king of collectibles’ on Netflix
“Painted with a deep sense of humanity, these are among the smallest and most intimate portraits we know of Rembrandt, adding something new to our understanding of him as a portraitist of undisputed genius,” he added.
The most expensive Rembrandt ever sold went for $25.3 million at Christie’s in 2009.
