Renaissance painting found in plastic bag could sell for $32 million

• The painting “Rest during the flight into Egypt” by Italian Renaissance artist Titian could fetch nearly $32 million when it goes to auction in July
• The artwork was previously found at a London bus stop in 2002 after being stolen seven years earlier.
• The painting is believed to date from the end of the first decade of the 16th century.

A famous painting by Italian Renaissance artist Titian could fetch nearly $32 million when it goes up for auction.

According to a press release obtained by PEOPLE, the artist’s first masterpiece, “Rest on the Flight into Egypt,” will headline Christie’s Old Masters Part I sale in London on July 2, 2024. , hitting the market for the first time in over 145 years. .

The auction house said buyers will have the “rare opportunity” to “be part of the next chapter in the remarkable story of this legendary painting.” The work is estimated to gross between £15,000,000 and £25,000,000 (approximately $19 million to $32 million).

The painting is inspired by an event recounted in the Gospel of Matthew, in which Joseph was warned in a dream that Herod, the king of Judea, wanted to kill the young Christ, so Joseph, Mary and their child headed to Egypt. The painting depicts the family taking a break, likely en route, according to the auction house.

According to Christie’s, “Rest in Flight” dates back to the end of the first decade of the 16th century and was probably painted by Titian in his late teens or very early twenties.

“One of the last religious works from the artist’s early years to remain in private hands, the painting passed through some of Europe’s greatest collections and was last sold at auction by Christie’s in 1878, before to enter the Longleat House collection,” Christie’s said. said of the painting, which previously belonged to dukes, archdukes and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire over the years.

In 1995, the painting – which had been acquired by the 4th Marquess of Bath, UK in 1878 – made headlines after it was stolen from the Longleat estate, the auction house shared.

After a reward of £100,000 (nearly $127,000) was announced, the painting was found by Charles Hill, a former Scotland Yard officer who was a leading art detective at the time, seven years later. It was discovered in a plastic bag at a bus stop in Greater London, missing the frame, Christie’s confirmed.

Besides the theft in the mid-1990s, paintings were also stolen by Napoleon’s troops from the Belvedere Palace in Vienna in 1809, The independent reported.

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“This sublime early masterpiece by Titian is one of the most poetic products of Titian’s youth,” Orlando Rock, chairman of Christie’s UK, said in a statement.

“This magical devotional painting has the rare notoriety of having been stolen not once but twice,” continued Rock, adding: “We are honored to be entrusted with the responsibility of bringing this important and important painting to the London market. beautifully observed in July.”

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Andrew Fletcher, global head of the Old Masters department at Christie’s, said: “This is the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in over a generation and one of the very rare masterpieces by the artist remaining in private hands. »

Fletcher added that the painting is “a truly exceptional example of the artist’s pioneering approach to both the use of color and the depiction of the human form in the natural world, the artistic vocabulary which ensured his status as the first Venetian painter to achieve lifelong fame. Europe during his lifetime and his position as one of the greatest painters in the history of Western art.