Auctioneer doing a routine townhouse check finds strange 400-yr-old painting. When he found it's actual price, his jaw dropped
A baroque masterpiece by a major Flemish artist has been found after 400 years. The painting "Christ on the Cross" was painted by the artist and diplomat Sir Peter Paul Rubens in 1613. However, it vanished only some time after that and nobody in the art world had a clue about what had happened to the work. But then an auctioneer, Jean-Pierre Osenat, who is also the head of Osenat Auction House, spotted the work while going through a townhouse in Paris before selling it. The painting was sold at the auction house for $2.7 million, per NPR.
Osenat found the painting back in September 2024, but he held onto it to get it authenticated properly. The painting was eventually auctioned on November 30, 2025. Over the years, many people have reproduced the painting and have made engravings of it. Hence, it has been kept alive in public memory for over 400 years, per the outlet. Osenat told France 24 that the painting was in excellent condition when he found it. "It is a masterpiece. It was painted by Rubens at the height of his talent." It was found at a private mansion in Paris's sixth district. "It is an extremely rare and incredible discovery," Osenat went on.
However, the auctioneer had his doubts and felt that the painting could have been from one of the workshops Rubens had conducted, per CBS News. Such works were created in collaboration with a large number of artists and could be valued at around $11,500. Nonetheless, the man decided to dig deeper. "I immediately had a hunch about this painting and I did everything I could to try to have it authenticated. And finally, we managed to have it authenticated by the Rubenianum, which is the Rubens committee in Antwerp." He managed to get Nils Buttner, a German art historian and an authority figure on Rubens, on board for authenticating the work.
Buttner pointed out that there were several special aspects about the painting. The most significant one was the fact that Rubens never painted Jesus Christ as a "dead body" on the cross, even though he had painted several works depicting crucifixion throughout his career. "Christ on the Cross" was the only known work that showed otherwise. "So this is the one and only painting showing blood and water coming out of the side wound of Christ and this is something that Rubens only painted once." X-ray imaging and pigment analysis were used to authenticate the painting, per the outlet. The examination of paint layers confirmed that it was indeed painted by Rubens.
The layers included blue and green pigments, along with red, white and black layers, something Rubens often did to depict human skin. William Bouguereau, a 19th-century French painter, probably owned the painting before it was passed down in his family. The painting had most likely been done for a private collector. Another exception, as most of Rubens' work had been done for the church. Osenat even called the painting, "a true profession of faith and a favourite subject for Rubens, a protestant who converted to Catholicism," per France 24. "It's the very beginning of Baroque painting, depicting a crucified Christ, isolated, luminous and standing out vividly against a dark and threatening sky."