Portrait found in Maine attic expected to fetch $15,000 sells for $1.41 million

A 17th-century portrait discovered among stacks of paintings in a Maine attic sold for $1.41 million at auction, far exceeding its initial estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. The painting, believed by the auctioneer who found it to be a work by Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn, attracted nine bidders before a European collector secured it in August 2024.The portrait, titled Portrait of a Young Girl, had reportedly remained in a farmhouse in Camden, Maine, for decades. Kaja Veilleux, owner, appraiser and auctioneer at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, came across it during a routine visit to assess items from a wealthy family's estate.“On house calls, we often go in blind, not knowing what we’ll find,” Veilleux said in a statement. “The home was filled with wonderful pieces, but it was in the attic, among stacks of art, that we found this remarkable portrait.”

Painting's history traced to 1970 museum label

Veilleux said he recognised Rembrandt's style when he first saw the portrait. The painting depicts a young girl wearing a black dress, a white ruffled collar and a white cap. It is painted on an oak panel and set in a hand-carved gold Dutch frame.Although the painting is unsigned, Veilleux said that was not necessarily unusual for Rembrandt's work. A label on the back of the frame attributed the portrait to the artist and recorded that it had been displayed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1970.

However, the museum could not confirm the painting's exhibition history. Maggie Fairs, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, said in an email to The New York Times that the institution had investigated the claim but that the passage of time made it difficult to establish whether, and when, the portrait had been displayed there.The artwork had reportedly been in private family ownership since the 1920s.

How it travelled from the Netherlands, where Rembrandt worked in the 17th century, to a farmhouse attic in Maine remains unknown.

Expert says painting could be worth $15 million

Mark Winter, an art authentication expert who has spent more than two decades appraising artworks, including paintings attributed to Rembrandt, said the portrait could be worth considerably more if its attribution is confirmed.Winter told The NYT in a phone interview: “The person who bought the painting for $1.4 million already got a great bargain.

The value of this painting is probably in the area of $15 million.”He also said the painting bore a strong resemblance to Rembrandt's work and that the girl depicted looked like other young women in the artist's portraits. However, the portrait's attribution has not been established as definitive in the information available.The number of paintings attributed to Rembrandt is relatively limited. The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague says the Dutch Golden Age artist produced more etchings and drawings than paintings, with about 300 canvases attributed to him.

Previous discoveries

The Maine portrait is not the first painting to attract renewed attention after its attribution to Rembrandt was reconsidered.In 2018, Dutch art dealer Jan Six said he had identified a 17th-century painting previously attributed to the Netherlandish School as a work by Rembrandt. Another painting, The Adoration of the Kings, sold for nearly $14 million in 2023 after experts concluded that it was painted by the Dutch master.

Its value had been estimated at $17,000 two years earlier, before the attribution changed.Winter said his authentication business receives around two to three photographs a week from people seeking to establish whether their artworks are genuine Rembrandts, a pattern he said had continued for about two decades.“But we don’t discover new paintings by Rembrandt every day,” he said.For Veilleux, the find was a first in more than 50 years in the auction business. He said he had encountered remarkable discoveries during his career but had never previously come across a painting he believed to be a Rembrandt.Reflecting on the painting's unexplained journey and discovery, Veilleux said: “That’s part of the mystery.” He added: “It’s a good thing we found it. Anyone else wouldn’t have known what to do with it.”