Category: Discoveries
Rediscovered Hans Baldung Grien Drawing at Auction
January 19 2026
Picture: Drouot
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from France that Beaussant Lefèvre & Associés, in collaboration with the Bayser firm, will be offering a newly rediscovered drawing by Hans Baldung Grien on 23rd March 2026. The work will be offered carrying an estimate of €1.5m - €3m.
Missing Nicolás Francés panel rediscovered with Google Lens Search
January 15 2026
Picture: finestresullarte.info
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News has arrived that a missing panel, which once formed part of a set of four by Nicolás Francés (active 1424 - 1468), has been rediscovered in an American museum with the aid of a Google Lens search. The panel, which had been displayed in the Church of San Miguel de Villalpando in Spain but had been missing since 1957, was tracked down by ZamorArte Foundation in Zamora. The discovery was aided by old photographic negatives and research into the dealers who handled the picture during the later part of the 20th century. It is hoped that the set might be reunited for some future exhibition in Spain. Click on the link to read the full story.
Update - A comment from a reader:
I have to say that I was more than a little amused by the very breathless article in Finestre sull-Arte about the "rediscovery" of a Nicolás Francés panel in Springfield, Massachusetts.
While it is terrific news that the Zamorarte Foundation now knows where the panel is located, the painting was hardly lost. It is correctly identified in Springfield's galleries, where it's almost always on view, and it has been published, again correctly, in that museum's catalogues several times since they acquired it in 1964.
In fairness, the Springfield collection is less well known than those in, say, Hartford or Worcester, which are nearby, but the d'Amour / MFA is quite a good museum and has done a decent job of making the collection known over the decades. That said, their collections database is still pretty limited, so that plays a role.
Winter in Art in Trento
January 15 2026
Video: Girovagando in Trentino
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Buonconsiglio Castle in Trento, Italy, opened an exhibition dedicated to Winter in Art at the end of last year. The show appears to feature a great deal of Old Masters and will run until 15th March 2026.
Attributed to Rubens Head with Second Face
January 14 2026
Picture: artnet.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Artnet.com have published a story relating to a head study of an Old Man attributed to Rubens which is being unveiled at the BRAFA fair in Brussels by dealer Klaas Muller. Acquired at auction a few years ago for €100,000, the head study (which relates to a finished Rubens in the Prado and is often repeated by other hands) curiously features another face which was painted over during the process of its creation. Click on the link to read the full story.
Rediscovered José I Portrait acquired by University of Coimbra
December 30 2025
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A reader has kindly been in touch with news from November regarding the following portrait of the young José I (King of Portugal from 1750 to 1777) by Domenico Duprà which was acquired by University of Coimbra in 2023. The picture, which was sold in the Collection Hubert Guerrand-Hermès sale at Sotheby's Paris in 2023 as a 'Portrait of a Young Man', was spotted by Diogo Lemos, a PhD student in Art History at the University. The painting realised €8,890 (inc. commission) over its €2k - €3k estimate. Click on the link above to read more.
Finding Catherine Read
December 23 2025
Picture: Rhodes Trust via ArtUK (where misattributed)
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I hope readers don't mind a short plug for a blog I've written for the website ArtHerStory.net entitled Finding Catherine Read. The piece explains what it is like to go out and find misattributed paintings by female artists. Catherine Read (1720-1778) is widely known as a portraitist in pastel (indeed Neil Jeffares has over 20 pages of them here accessible for free on Pastellists.com), however, her recognised oil paintings are fewer in number.
This summer I began to make a list of misattributed oils on canvas that I have spotted in public collections, museums, private collections and on the art market. The blog features many pictures that are published and given to Read for the first time (perhaps in a long time, at least).
Earliest Tattoo in Western European Painting?
December 10 2025
Picture: Amsterdam Museum via CODART
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Interesting news from CODART at the end of last month that the condition report of a painting attributed to Wallerant Vaillant in the Amsterdam Museum may have led to the discovery of 'the earliest known depiction of a tattoo in Western European painting'.
According to the article:
During an inspection of a seventeenth-century painting in the Amsterdam Museum collection, a tattoo was discovered on the wrist of a prominent Amsterdam merchant. The painting, a 1674 portrait of the College of the Chief Commissioners of the Wharves attributed to Wallerant Vaillant (1623–1677), was undergoing a routine condition check when restorer Liesbeth Abraham noticed the mark on the inside of one subject’s wrist.
Click on the link above to read the full story.
Rediscovered Rubens reaches €2.9m
December 2 2025
Video: ABS CBN News
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The aforementioned rediscovered Rubens Crucifixion realised €2,940,799 (inc. commission) over its €1m - €2m estimate at Osenat in Versailles yesterday.
Michelangelo's Foot at Christie's New York in 2026
November 24 2025
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Christie's New York have shared news that they will be auctioning off the recently rediscovered study of a foot by Michelangelo which appears in the Sistine Chapel frescos.
According to their press release:
Very rarely new drawings have been rediscovered and added to Michelangelo’s graphic corpus over the decades. Almost all of Michelangelo’s known studies, excluding architectural drawings and the sketches of marble blocks Michelangelo used to send to his quarry masters, are now in public collections. Only about ten sheets, including this newly discovered drawing, are in private hands. Furthermore, no recorded study for the Sistine Chapel has ever come to auction — until now. [...]
Unknown until now, the sheet belongs to an important group of red-chalk figure studies that Michelangelo made from live models in preparation for the frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. These drawings are widely considered Michelangelo’s finest achievements in the medium.
The drawing will be offered on 5th February 2026 carrying an estimate of $1,500,000-2,000,000.
Unseen Renoir to be offered in Paris
November 6 2025
Video: PBS
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
American broadcasters have reported on news of an unseen Renoir that is coming up for sale at Drouot (via Christophe Joron-Derem) on 25th November. The picture depicts the young Jean Renoir, future filmmaker, and Gabrielle Renard, the painter's nanny and muse. It will be offered carrying an estimate of €1 - 1.5m.
Waterloo Veteran Portrait Reidentified by National Army Museum
October 22 2025
Picture: National Army Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Army Museum in London has shared new research which has revealed the sitter of a previously unidentified portrait relating to the Napoleonic period. The painting, which was acquired by the museum last year for £30,000 (sans attribution and identity), decpits Pte Thomas James a percussionist in the 18th Light Dragoons who was awarded the Waterloo medal.
According to The Guardian article linked above:
He fought in the Napoleonic wars and is one of only nine Black soldiers known to have received the Waterloo Medal, the first British medal awarded to soldiers regardless of their rank.
Yet the story of Pte Thomas James has been overlooked for centuries.
Now the National Army Museum in London has identified James as the likely subject of an “extraordinarily rare” painting from 1821, which it has attributed to the artist Thomas Phillips, whose more typical sitters were Georgian luminaries such as the Duke of Wellington and Lord Byron.
The portrait will be unveiled to the public on Tuesday at the museum’s “Army at Home” gallery in Chelsea, where it will be placed on permanent display to highlight the service of James and other Black soldiers during the Napoleonic wars.
Adam de Coster Reattributed
October 20 2025
Picture: Prado
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Spain that the ARS Magazine have published an article concerning the reattribution of the following Card Players in the Prado to the Flemish artist Adam de Coster. Written by Anne Delvingt, the museum had historically attributed the work to Gerrit Honthorst in the past.
Royal Collection Reidentifies Bust Modelled by Prince Albert's Daughter
September 22 2025
Picture: Royal Collection Trust
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Royal Collection Trust have shared news that a bust of Prince Albert modelled by his daughter Victoria (1840-1901), Crown Princess of Prussia, has been reidentified at Windsor Castle. New research on the marble, which had long been given to the sculptor Robert William Sievier, was undertaken by Jonathan Marsden who discovered that it was in fact Albert's daughter who had modelled it shortly after Albert's death in 1861.
According to their press release:
Prince Albert and his eldest daughter Princess Victoria had a close relationship, sharing a love for learning and the arts – sculpture in particular, with both known to give lengthy advice when commissioning new works. Like her sisters Princesses Alice and Louise, the Crown Princess took lessons in sculpting, and, perhaps fearing someone else would not do her ‘dear Papa’ justice, she created the posthumous bust with her tutor, Hugo Hagen.
Already involved in multiple commemorative projects across painting, architecture and sculpture, Princess Victoria felt the weight of responsibility. In a heartfelt letter to her mother Queen Victoria, she wrote from Berlin: ‘It is a work which completely engrosses me … I feel very nervous … I hope you will like it. How I wish you were here to give advice!’ The Queen’s reply came days later: ‘I like it extremely,’ adding only that the nose was a touch too thick. The Princess and her husband, the Crown Prince of Prussia, went on to give the sculpture to Queen Victoria for Christmas in 1864.
This discovery is featured within Marden's aforementioned new sculpture catalogue which will be on sale from tomorrow.
Emma Soyer reidentified at the Rollins Museum of Art
September 15 2025
Picture: Rollins Museum of Art
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Plymouth art dealer Dominic Sanchez-Cabello has written the following blog on a painting by Emma Soyer which has been reidentified in the Rollins Museum of Art in Florida (initially spotted carrying the wrong attribution by AHN's very own Bendor Grosvenor). The rediscovery is exciting as it transpires that Soyer's Young Bavarians was one of the pictures the artist's widower Alexis attempted to tried to leave to the National Gallery in London before his death in 1858. Click on the link to read the full story.
Hilliard Miniature of Earl of Southampton Rediscovered
September 9 2025
Picture: The Guardian
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm a little slow to news that broke over the weekend of a rediscovered miniature of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, by Nicholas Hilliard. Southampton is known for his friendship with William Shakespeare and may have been the 'fair youth' whom the bard dedicated many sonnets. The miniature, rediscovered by Emma Rutherford and supported by research from Dr Elizabeth Goldring, also bears a mysterious defaced heart on the reverse. Click on the link above the read more.
Rediscovered François Boucher Still Life up for sale in December
September 9 2025
Picture: Pescheteau-Badin
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The auction house Pescheteau-Badin in Paris have announced that they will be offering a rediscovered signed still life by François Boucher in December. The research of the work has been overseen by Cabinet Turquin and will be on display with Adam Williams Fine Art in New York from 30th September, in case any readers are in that part of the world this autumn. No estimate seems to have been published yet.
Rediscovered Laurent de La Hyre Coming Up in November
September 8 2025
Picture: La Gazette Drouot
Posted by Adam Busiakeiwicz:
La Gazette Drouot have drawn attention to a rediscovered early work by Laurent de La Hyre which is coming up for sale in November. The picture, which was last recorded in a mid-seventeenth century inventory, will be offered by Hôtel des Ventes Orléans- Madeleine carrying an estimate of €500,000 - 800,000.
Joan Carlile at Freize 2025
September 4 2025
Picture: Philip Mould & Co. / lawsons.com.au
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The dealers Philip Mould & Co. have announced on their website that they will be revealing a rediscovered work by Joan Carlile at Frieze 2025 (which opens on 15th October). Regular readers will remember the painting which came up for sale in Australia at the beginning of this year.
Click on the link above to see a better image of the freshly cleaned work, which is rather beautiful in the details.
Upcoming: Trois Crayons Museum Forum
July 10 2025
Picture: Trois Crayons
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Exciting news that the works on paper collective Trois Crayons will be launching a new online Museum Forum this summer, an initiative which will focus on the discussion of attributions of works in public collections.
According to their website:
The forum provides a space for curators and institutions to share lesser-seen and lesser-studied works from their collections—so-called ‘problem’ drawings—raising unresolved questions of attribution, sitter identity, dating, subject matter, and provenance. By opening these discussions to the global community of experts and enthusiasts, the platform enhances visibility and invites fresh perspectives on drawings that might otherwise remain in obscurity.
This free-to-use digital resource will harness the power of collective research and community collaboration, encouraging knowledge exchange and innovative approaches to longstanding art-historical challenges. Through crowd-sourced insights and collaborative scholarship, the Trois Crayons Museum Forum aims to deepen our understanding of Pre-Modern drawings and deepen public engagement with institutional collections.
Interested institutions are encouraged to get in touch with the organisers (more details are available via the link above).
Update - It has been pointed out to me that the Forum has just been launched and is filled with the many interesting works that are up for discussion. Click on the link above to access the site!
Zurbarán Exhibition at the National Gallery in 2026
June 26 2025
Picture: The National Gallery, London
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Gallery in London have announced they will be staging an exhibition on Francisco de Zurbarán in 2026.
According to the gallery's website:
The first major monographic exhibition in the UK devoted to Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664), will open at the National Gallery next spring (2 May – 23 August 2026).
This exhibition is the first dedicated presentation of the artist’s paintings at the National Gallery since 1994 when the series of 'Jacob and his Twelve Sons' from Auckland Castle was shown in the Sunley Room. Several works by Zurbarán also featured in The Sacred Made Real, an exhibition held in 2009–10.
This exhibition of almost 50 paintings will span the chronological and iconographic breadth of the artist’s career. It will unite exceptional works from the collection of the National Gallery (including Saint Margaret of Antioch, A Cup of Water and a Rose and Juan de Zurbarán's Still Life with Lemons in a Wicker Basket) with paintings from the Musée du Louvre ('Saint Bonaventure on His Bier' and 'Saint Apollonia') and the Art Institute of Chicago ('The Crucifixion', 'Saint Romanus of Antioch' and 'Saint Barulas' and Juan de Zurbarán’s 'Flowers and Fruit in a Chinese Bowl'), the two partner museums to which the exhibition will travel between October 2026 and June 2027.
