Antique sale painting unveiled as £60m Cellini self- portrait
AN Italian Renaissance painting that disappeared from view for 450 years was yesterday declared to be the previously unknown self-portrait of the 16th century master goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini.
The painting was unveiled in Paris after a team of experts concluded during 11 months of art detective work that it was genuine.
Although the value of the work is said to be difficult to calculate, its owner, a private collector who apparently has no wish to sell, is insuring it for £60 million.
He found the painting in an antiques sale in France a year ago, paying an undisclosed sum.
Convinced that the painting was Cellini’s, the collector approached Italian art authorities.
He offered it for research and display, only to be turned away. He then commissioned the Parisian art laboratory Cosmo di Medici to conduct a detailed study.
By a process involving comparison with the only other known portrait of Cellini, physio-chemical analysis and even psychological profi ling, the experts agreed that the work was Cellini’s.
They believe it was painted in his native Florence between 1555 and 1565.
“This is an art event of enormous importance, equivalent to the discovery of an unknown sculpture of da Vinci,” said Alexander Tsoy, a friend of the collector. colin. randall@ telegraph.co. uk