「人有失手，马有失蹄。」古董商、收藏家会看漏眼，博物馆也会把宝物弃如敝屣。 5年前，纽约大都会艺术博物馆（The Met）低价送走的一幅「仿绘画」，后来鉴定为大画家鲁本斯（Peter Paul Rubens）真迹，如今在伦敦以高达£300万- 500万的估价拍卖。

故事主角是一幅肖像作，出自鲁本斯（1577-1640）之手，画中人乃古典大画家的爱女Clara。 Clara于1623年因病离世，年仅12岁。鲁本斯绘画此作时，她的人生已几乎走到尽头。大家可以想像，这位父亲每一笔画下去，爱女的生命又流逝了一点，这种心情是何等滋味。

鲁本斯描绘爱妻的肖像画｜大英博物馆

本画风格和鲁本斯为爱妻Isabella绘的肖像（上图）相似。顺带一提，Clara死后3年，母亲Isabella亦于鼠疫中丧命。

鲁本斯自画像

Walter Liedtke（1945-2015）为著名艺术历史学家

早在1940年代，Julius Held就断定此画非鲁本斯真迹。这位鼎鼎有名的艺术历史学家如此一说，此画自然乏人问津。画作后来为The Met所藏，但并没有飞上枝头变凤凰，皆因馆方专家Walter Liedtke认为它是17世纪的仿绘作。

画作局部

上述两人都是研究鲁本斯的权威，是故馆方于2013年委托苏富比拍卖此画时，估价只定于US$20,000（HK$156,000）。博物馆大概没想到，画作竟会以估价30倍的US$626,500成交。买家的意见很明显：「我认为是真的。」

鲁本斯故居

这位买家先请专人「复修」画作 - 除去上面的污迹与后来加上去的颜料，再让专家团队来鉴定画作。证实为鲁本斯真迹后，此画先后在苏格兰国家画廊及鲁本斯故居等博物馆展出，如今在伦敦佳士得上拍，估价£300 - 500万（HK$3,100万- 5,170万；RMB 2,600万- 4,000万）。

纽约大都会艺术博物馆（The Met）

The Met早前回应事件，指此画出自谁人之手这个问题，各方一直有所争辩，馆方认为5年前出售此画的决定并没有错。

 

古典大师晚拍三甲拍品

鲁本斯（Peter Paul Rubens，1577-1640）《Portrait of Clara Serena, the artist's daughter》

拍品编号：7
尺寸：36.2 x 26.4cm
来源：

• (Presumably) In the estate of Jan Brant (1559-1639), the artist's father-in-law and the sitter's grandfather, listed 'In de groote camer aan den hoff', 'Twee stucxkens schilderije respective, op panneel, olieverve, in lijste, d'een van Jan Brant, des afflijvigens soontken was, ende d'ander van Clara Serena Rubens, dochterken was des voors. Hr. Rubbens'. 
• (Probably) Guillaume-Jean Constantin (1755-1816), Curator of the painting collection of Empress Josephine at Château de Malmaison; his sale (†), Rue Saint-Lazare no. 52, Paris, 18 November 1816 (=1st day) , lot 285, as 'School of Rubens', 'Un portrait de jeune fille bien touché et d'une grande vérité. H. 13 p., l. 10. B. [sur bois]', sold for 22 francs to,
• Louis-Antoine (Athanase) Lavallée (1768-1818), Secretary General of the ‘Musée Napoléon’ (Musée du Louvre) and its temporary director. 
• (Possibly) M. Camille Groult (1837-1908), Paris. 
• Sir Robert Henry Edward Abdy, 5th Bt. (1896-1976), Paris. 
• Mrs. Peter Cooper Hewitt (1842-1934), New York; her sale (†), American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, New York, 6 April 1935, lot 613. 
• Frederick R. Bay, New York, by 1936, until at least 1939. 
• Charles Ulrick Bay (1888-1955), New York, by 1942, and by inheritance to his widow, 
• Josephine Bay Paul, New York, 1955, by whom gifted as ‘Rubens’ to, 
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 60.169), in 1960, catalogued as 'a copy after Rubens, probably 17th century', and deaccessioned in 2013; Sotheby's, New York, 31 January 2013 (=1st day), lot 107 , as 'Follower of Peter Paul Rubens' ($626,500), when acquired by the present owner. 

估价：£3,000,000 - 5,000,000

拉卡奇（Ludovico Carracci，1555-1619）《Portrait of Carlo Alberto Rati Opizzoni in armour, three-quarter-length, wearing the Order of the Knights of Malta, the city of Bologna beyond》

拍品编号：36
尺寸：102 x 86.2cm
来源：

• Conte Luigi Amedeo Rati Opizzoni (1877-1946), Turin, to whom gifted by the city of Bologna (according to family tradition), before 1911, and thence by direct family descent (in New York by 1930), until sold in the following , 
• Anonymous sale [Property from a New York Estate]; Sotheby’s, New York, 27 January 2005, lot 125, when acquired by the present owner. 

估价：£3,500,000 - 5,000,000

林布兰（Rembrandt，1606-1669）《Christ presented to the people (‘Ecce Homo’)》

拍品编号：22
尺寸：38.7 x 44.8cm
来源：

• Gabriel von Cronstern [II], probably acquired in the 1760s from Pierre Yver in Amsterdam.
• By descent in the family of the Grafen Plessen-Cronstern, Schleswig-Holstein; their sale, Christie’s, London, Important Old Master Prints from a German Family of Title – Part I, 10 December 1991, lot 54.
• Samuel Josefowitz (1921-2015), Lausanne; acquired at the above sale.
• Then by descent to the present owners. 

估价：£2,200,000 - 3,500,000

 

拍卖详情

拍卖行：伦敦佳士得
场次：古典大师晚间拍卖
拍品数目：61
拍卖时间：2018/7/5｜7pm