A Christ on the Cross that has been discovered in France has been attributed to Pieter Paul Rubens (Siegen, 1577 - Antwerp, 1640). Jean-Pierre Osenat, director of the French auction house Osenat, announced the discovery to the France Press (AFP) agency. According to the statement, it is a work made around 1614-1615, found among the possessions of the recently deceased owner of a Parisian house, and will be auctioned on November 30. “It was painted by Rubens at the height of his talent,” Osenat told AFP. “It is the beginning of Baroque painting,” he added, also stressing the significance of the work as “a true profession of faith and a favorite subject of Rubens, a Protestant convert to Catholicism.” According to Osenat, “this is an extremely rare and incredible discovery.”
According to AFP reports, the painting has been authenticated by art historian Nils Büttner, a leading Rubens expert as well as president of the Centrum Rubenianum in Antwerp. In addition, the work was subjected to technical investigations such as radiography and pigment analysis. The medium-format (105.5 by 72.5 centimeters) work was probably made for a private collector. Büttner also believes that the work belonged to the 19th-century French painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau and later came to the owners of the Paris villa where it was found.
It is not, however, a work completely unknown to scholars: it was in fact known through engravings. According to what Büttner told Artnet magazine, the newly discovered work will be included in the upcoming Addenda and Corrigenda of Rubens’ catalog raisonné. It is “surprising,” according to the scholar, that a painting of this caliber has remained unnoticed for so long. The scholar pointed to the way “Christ is depicted isolated, silhouetted brightly against an ominous, dark sky,” noting also how “in painfully realistic ways, Christ’s upper body arches forward, the weight of which is highlighted by the tension in his arms. Behind the green and overgrown rocky background of Golgotha, one can see Jerusalem illuminated, but apparently under a thunderstorm.”
At present, no further details about the sale are known, nor is it yet known what the painting’s estimate will be. It is expected, however, given past estimates at auction, that it may be a six-figure sum.
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