Rembrandt portrait found in attic sells for record price

By Adam Bartow

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    THOMASTON, Maine (WMTW) — A painting recently found in the attic of a home in Camden just sold for a record price.

Thomaston Place Auction Galleries founder, appraiser and auctioneer Kaja Veilleux found a 17th-century portrait of a young girl by Rembrandt during a routine house call.

“On house calls, we often go in blind, not knowing what we’ll find,” Veilleux said. “The home was filled with wonderful pieces, but it was in the attic, among stacks of art, that we found this remarkable portrait.”

The portrait, showing a teenage girl in a black dress with a white ruffled collar and a white cap, was in remarkable condition despite its age. Painted on a cradled oak panel and mounted in a hand-carved gold Dutch frame, the piece had an untouched surface and established family provenance. A label on the verso of the frame attributed the work to Rembrandt, noting it had been previously loaned to an exhibition in 1970 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The portrait was auctioned during the Summer Grandeur sale held by Thomaston Place Auction Galleries.

When the hammer fell, a private collector from Europe paid $1,410,000, believed to be a new record for the most expensive piece of art ever sold at auction in Maine.

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