British family hopes for $10m in auction of two previously unknown Rembrandts

Auctioneer Christie’s said artworks are 'one of the most exciting discoveries we have made in the old masters field'

The paintings are the last-known pair of portraits by Rembrandt to remain in private hands. Photo: Christie's

Two rare Rembrandt paintings that were lost to scholars have been found in a private collection in the UK.

The two images, both 20cm-high portraits that were painted in 1635, were last sold at auction in 1824 when they became part of a private collection.

Since then, their true history was lost to the owners who inherited the works and in 2021 called Christie’s to examine their collection.

The paintings, the last known pair of portraits by Rembrandt to remain in private hands, now have an estimated value of £5 million to £8 million ($6.25 million to $10 million) for the artworks when they are auctioned at Christie’s in London on July 6.

Henry Pettifer, international deputy chairman of old master paintings at Christie’s, called the find “one of the most exciting discoveries we have made in the old masters field in recent years”.

“The pictures were immediately of terrific interest,” he said, adding that the owners were surprised that they had such valuable works.

“I don’t think they had looked into it. They didn’t have expectations for the paintings.”

He said he was “incredibly excited” to see the paintings, but “at that stage I didn’t jump to any conclusions”.

“I wasn’t aware of what I was going to be seeing,” he said. “I dared to dream. But it was extraordinary to me that the pictures had never been studied before. They were completely absent from the Rembrandt literature.”

They have since been authenticated by experts from The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, a global centre of Rembrandt academia.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is a global centre of Rembrandt knowledge. Reuters

The portraits are of husband and wife Jan Willemsz van der Pluym and Jaapgen Carels, from Leiden, Netherlands, who had family links to the artist.

“Painted with a deep sense of humanity, these are amongst the smallest and most intimate portraits that we know by Rembrandt, adding something new to our understanding of him as a portraitist of undisputed genius,” Mr Pettifer said.

They are dated 1635 and were painted as Rembrandt was building his reputation.

Christies’s research showed a “virtually unbroken” line of provenance going back to the sitters who commissioned Rembrandt.

Ancestors of the family now selling the pair of small oil paintings bought them in 1824, also at a Christie’s auction.

“They are not grand, formal commissioned paintings. I think they are the smallest portraits that he painted that we know of,” Mr Pettifer said.

The record price for a Rembrandt at auction was Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo, which sold for £20.2 million at Christie’s in 2009.