Rare Painting Found Behind Door in French Home

We really want to find something in our own homes. What’s behind your door? While it sounds like the beginning of “Let’s Make a Deal,” one lucky family in the north of France has hit the jackpot with what has been sitting behind a door of their home since 1900. The family decided after 123 years (very patient collectors, we think) to get the family wall decoration examined. An auctioneer from Daguerre Val de Loire discovered the family owned a rare painting by the 17th-century artist Pieter Brueghel the Younger.

The “exceptional” 3 3/4-foot-high by 6-foot-wide painting will be sold in auction later this month. The painting is valued at up to $861,685. It is believed to have been painted between 1615 and 1617 and is a version of L’Avocat du village (the Village Lawyer), a common theme for Brueghel.

Described as “exceptional” and one of his largest known works, it will be sold by auction in Paris later this month.

Now we are all going to go home and take down all our family’s artwork to check if it is old.

 

Photo: Daguerre Val de Loire (via TheGuardian.com)