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Masterpiece or not?

London: The painting was valued at £1,500 but as taxis ferried London art dealers to the small English country auction it became clear that something was up, and as bidding went over £1-million the room fell silent. But has the buyer, who paid more than £2-million, got a masterpiece or not? When taxis began to arrive from the railway station bearing a small flock of art dealers from London, the small country auction rooms suspected something was up. A few hours later a little painting on copper of a laughing young man, valued at up to £1,500 as in the style of Rembrandt, had been snapped up by an agent for an unidentified bidder for £2.2million. The buyer — and the rivals who converged on the sale as word spread in the art world — is convinced the painting is a fairytale genuine masterpiece hanging unrecognised on the drawing room wall of an ordinary country house. The picture came from the U.K. house of an anonymous overseas collector, who did not believe it was genuine. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007

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Masterpiece or not?

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