(According to a gallery statement, Dürer signed his initials this way on at least 20 other works completed between 15, asserting authorship in an early version of copyright.) Paper conservator Jane McAusland also found that the work was created on paper bearing a trident and ring watermark-the same motif seen on more than 200 sheets used by the artist. First, the artist inscribed his monogram with the same ink featured in the drawing. “It was either the greatest forgery I have ever seen-or a masterpiece.”Īlbrecht Dürer, The Virgin Among a Multitude of Animals, circa 1506Įxperts consulted by Schorer identified two telltale features that pointed to the work’s authenticity. “It was an incredible moment when I saw the Dürer,” he tells the Art Newspaper. The Carlhians had long assumed that the sketch was a modern reproduction-but Schorer had a different idea. The work appears to have been passed down by the family, whose ancestors were art collectors in 19th-century France. The sketch was sold in 2016 by the daughters of the late architect Jean-Paul Carlhian. Given its estimated value, the drawing will likely be snapped up by a deep-pocketed institution or private collector.Ĭlifford Schorer, an Agnews shareholder and art collector, first heard rumors about the possible Dürer work during a 2019 trip to Boston, reported Simon Worrall for the London Times last year. The gallery plans to eventually sell the sketch but has not yet fixed a firm price. Newly titled The Virgin and Child With a Flower on a Grassy Bench(1503), the work is on view at Agnews Gallery in London through December 12.
It’s also an art historical rarity: Per the Art Newspaper, the sketch-likely a preparatory work for a circa 1506 painting-is the first “totally unknown” drawing by the artist to resurface since the 1970s. Now, after careful study, multiple scholars say that the delicate ink sketch is an authentic Dürer drawing that could be worth upward of $50 million.
As the unnamed man tells Taylor Dafoe of Artnet News, he simply thought that it was “a wonderfully rendered piece of old art.” Though the sketch bore one of the art world’s most well-known monograms- Albrecht Dürer’s “ A.D.”-neither the buyer nor the sellers believed it was a genuine work by the German Renaissance artist. The man, who is choosing to remain anonymous, bought the artwork and stowed it in his home. The square of unframed, yellowed linen featured an elegant sketch of a mother and child-and a modest $30 price tag, reports Martin Bailey for the Art Newspaper. In 2016, a sharp-eyed shopper at a Massachusetts estate sale bought a drawing on a whim.
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