The 31,6th-century painting "Rest on the Way to Egypt" by the Venetian artist Titian, which was previously stolen, was auctioned in London for $XNUMX million. About it write The Independent.
The painting passed through the hands of the most influential people in Europe, was stolen twice and thrown in a plastic bag at a bus stop in the suburbs of London. Now, for the first time in the last 150 years, it will be put up for auction at Christie's auction house.
“This unusual religious painting of impeccable provenance, which passed through the hands of dukes, archdukes and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, enjoys the rare fame of being stolen not once, but twice. First under Napoleon, and then in the late 1990s." - said the head of Christie's in Great Britain, Orlando Rock.
What is known about the painting "Rest on the way to Egypt"
"Rest on the way to Egypt" was written by Titian Vecellio in 1512. The painting shows Joseph, Mary and Jesus stopping to rest during their journey. The painting is 2 feet wide and painted on a wooden panel.
It had many owners over the years, including the Austrian Emperor Joseph II, before it was hanged in Vienna's Belvedere Palace.
In 1809, the Belvedere Palace in Vienna was sacked by French troops, and it became one of the many possessions of Napoleon Bonaparte. The picture was transferred to the Napoleon museum. In 1815, after the fall of Napoleon, the canvas was returned to Vienna.
It was then bought by the British art collector Hugh Andrew Johnston Munro of Novara, an amateur artist and patron of J.M.W. Turner, before being sold at Christie's in 1878 to the XNUMXth Marquess of Bath. Since then he has remained at the Baths' home in Longleat House, with one exception.
In 1995 it was stolen from the first-floor drawing room of the stately Longleat House, the Bath family's Wiltshire residence, and was found seven years later after a £100 reward was offered for information.
Former Scotland Yard chief inspector Charles Hill discovered the painting in an unframed plastic bag in London in 2002. During the absence, the painting suffered minimal damage, it was restored and returned to the owner.
"This is the most important work by Titian to appear at auction in more than a generation, and one of very few of the artist's masterpieces to remain in private hands." said Andrew Fletcher, head of one of Christie's departments.
He added that the painting embodies the revolution in painting brought about by Titian in the early 16th century, and is a truly outstanding example of the artist's innovative approach to both the use of color and the representation of the human form in the natural world, an artistic vocabulary that earned him the status of the first Venetian an artist who gained fame throughout Europe during his lifetime and his position as one of the greatest artists in the history of Western art.
Two decades ago, Holiday on the Road to Egypt cost between £6m and £7m.
Offered by Lord Bath and the Longleath Trustees, the painting will be auctioned later this year with an estimate of £15m to £25m.
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