Rediscovered £129m painting unveiled
A LONG-LOST painting by the artist Caravaggio was almost stolen by burglars years before it was rediscovered a farmhouse’s attic.
The work by the Italian master, found five years ago in the property in the French city of Toulouse, was unveiled yesterday in London after being restored.
Burglars broke into the home and stole items including bottles of perfume, but left the painting as they thought it worthless, according to auctioneer Marc Labarbe. Titled Judith And Holofernes and valued at £129m, the piece sat for a century in anonymity against a wall between old clothes, family antiques and crockery.
Speaking at the unveiling of the work at the Colnaghi gallery, Mr Labarbe joked the burglars had not deemed the painting “adequate” enough to steal it.
According to Paris-based art appraiser Eric Turquin, the work was painted in 1607.
It depicts the biblical tale of Judith, a widow from the city of Bethulia, who breaks the siege of her home by seducing the Assyrian leader and beheading him.
The find means there are now 68 known paintings attributed to the artist, who was born in 1571 and died in 1610 of suspected lead poisoning from his paint.
The work will be auctioned on June 27 in Toulouse, and will be on display in London from today until March 9.