Experts at odds over $250m ‘Lost Caravaggio’

Some say it is the ‘‘Lost Caravaggio’’ painted when the Renaissance artist was on the run from a murder charge and hitting his peak.

Others argue it is a worthless painting that even burglars ignored.

And what do those charged with selling it for up to NZ$251 million think of the fact that the buyer may never know for sure it is a genuine Caravaggio?

‘‘So what,’’ said Eric Turquin, an old master expert. ‘‘It would be highly suspicious if everybody was happy with it. There are major museums in the world with a lot of money behind them who do not have a Caravaggio and they will do anything to have one.’’

The ‘‘Lost Caravaggio’’ found in the neglected attic of a house in Toulouse five years ago was yesterday publicly unveiled in London. It will be auctioned in France in June with an estimate of $166m to $250m but no reserve.

is set to be the first Caravaggio presented at auction since 1971 when

failed to sell at Christie’s in London following doubts about its attribution by a National Gallery director. It was later bought by the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Turquin, who was enlisted soon after was discovered in 2014, said that Caravaggio rarely signed his works and there had been initial suspicions about all his work discovered in the past 50 years. ‘‘We will not hide the fact that the attribution [for Judith and Holofernes] has been contested,’’ he told The

‘‘This is common for Caravaggio. Many art historians have real difficulties approaching this artist. I have never had doubts because of the beauty of the picture, because of its energy.’’

While Caravaggio was a soughtafter and prolific artist during his short lifetime – which ended in 1610 while he was seeking a papal pardon for killing a man following a game of tennis – he fell out of favour for centuries. It was only in the middle of the 20th century that his reputation revived following an exhibition in Milan staged by the art historian Roberto Longhi.

Caravaggio continues to inspire artists and film-makers, including Martin Scorsese whose bar scenes in were a homage to the artist.

Since his rediscovery, leading institutions have sought to buy Caravaggios. Including the ‘‘Lost’’ one, there are 68 paintings generally accepted as his work, with only four in private hands. Europe holds 60 and the US the other eight. The

unveiled yesterday – an earlier version with different composition is held by a gallery in Rome – was discovered after a water leak in a dusty, unused attic of a family home in Toulouse. The pictures illustrate the passage from the Old Testament’s when the young widow ends the Assyrian invasion of her city of Bethulia by seducing and then beheading the Assyrian general, Holofernes. It was revealed yesterday that a few years before the water leak burglars had raided the attic and took small items including a bottle of perfume but missed the painting which was facing a wall and hidden behind bedsteads.

Turquin said that the unidentified family, which had owned the house since the 1870s after one of its members became rich and ‘‘was spending money everywhere’’, contacted a Toulouse auctioneer who then enlisted the art historian to investigate.

Turquin, who previously ran Sotheby’s Old Masters division, said he immediately knew it was a Caravaggio, a hunch he said had been confirmed by subsequent testing and cleaning. Amid the secrecy surrounding the discovery, he kept it in his bedroom for two years.

While a number of art historians have asserted the work is by Louis Finson, a contemporary of Caravaggio, several leading specialists support Turquin’s attribution.

The expert said that while the documentary, aesthetic and technical evidence all supported a Caravaggio attribution, there may always be doubts in some minds, adding that this remained the case with many

Leonardo.

‘‘There is a debate,’’ he said. ‘‘We all know art history is difficult and he is a difficult artist. You have to remember that it was only in 1951 that this artist was rediscovered so before this nobody was interested. They were not exhibited, not protected, there were no fights. Nothing.’’

He added: ‘‘This picture will be bought by a museum. I have very good reasons to believe that. Today art is soft power.’’ artists, including

AP Caravaggio’s Judith and Holofernes painting is unveiled at the Colnaghi Gallery in London. The painting, lost in Amsterdam in 1617, has since been rediscovered in an attic in a Toulouse farmhouse in 2014.