「人有失手，馬有失蹄。」古董商、收藏家會看漏眼，博物館也會把寶物棄如敝屣。5年前，紐約大都會藝術博物館（The Met）低價送走的一幅「仿繪畫」，後來鑑定為大畫家魯本斯（Peter Paul Rubens）真跡，如今在倫敦以高達£300萬 - 500萬的估價拍賣。

故事主角是一幅肖像作，出自魯本斯（1577-1640）之手，畫中人乃古典大畫家的愛女Clara。Clara於1623年因病離世，年僅12歲。魯本斯繪畫此作時，她的人生已幾乎走到盡頭。大家可以想像，這位父親每一筆畫下去，愛女的生命又流逝了一點，這種心情是何等滋味。

魯本斯描繪愛妻的肖像畫｜大英博物館

本畫風格和魯本斯為愛妻Isabella繪的肖像（上圖）相似。順帶一提，Clara死後3年，母親Isabella亦於鼠疫中喪命。

魯本斯自畫像

Walter Liedtke（1945-2015）為著名藝術歷史學家

早在1940年代，Julius Held就斷定此畫非魯本斯真跡。這位鼎鼎有名的藝術歷史學家如此一說，此畫自然乏人問津。畫作後來為The Met所藏，但並沒有飛上枝頭變鳳凰，皆因館方專家Walter Liedtke認為它是17世紀的仿繪作。

畫作局部

上述兩人都是研究魯本斯的權威，是故館方於2013年委託蘇富比拍賣此畫時，估價只定於US$20,000（HK$156,000）。博物館大概沒想到，畫作竟會以估價30倍的US$626,500成交。買家的意見很明顯：「我認為是真的。」

魯本斯故居

這位買家先請專人「復修」畫作 - 除去上面的污跡與後來加上去的顏料，再讓專家團隊來鑑定畫作。證實為魯本斯真跡後，此畫先後在蘇格蘭國家畫廊及魯本斯故居等博物館展出，如今在倫敦佳士得上拍，估價£300 - 500萬（HK$3,100萬 - 5,170萬；NT$1.2億 - 2億）。

紐約大都會藝術博物館（The Met）

The Met早前回應事件，指此畫出自誰人之手這個問題，各方一直有所爭辯，館方認為5年前出售此畫的決定並沒有錯。

 

古典大師晚拍三甲拍品

魯本斯（Peter Paul Rubens，1577-1640）《Portrait of Clara Serena, the artist's daughter》

拍品編號：7
尺寸：36.2 x 26.4cm
來源：

• (Presumably) In the estate of Jan Brant (1559-1639), the artist’s father-in-law and the sitter’s grandfather, listed ‘In de groote camer aan den hoff’, ‘Twee stucxkens schilderije respective, op panneel, olieverve, in lijste, d'een van Jan Brant, des afflijvigens soontken was, ende d'ander van Clara Serena Rubens, dochterken was des voors. Hr. Rubbens’. 
• (Probably) Guillaume-Jean Constantin (1755-1816), Curator of the painting collection of Empress Josephine at Château de Malmaison; his sale (†), Rue Saint-Lazare no. 52, Paris, 18 November 1816 (=1st day), lot 285, as ‘School of Rubens’, ‘Un portrait de jeune fille bien touché et d'une grande vérité. H. 13 p., l. 10. B. [sur bois]’, sold for 22 francs to, 
• Louis-Antoine (Athanase) Lavallée (1768-1818), Secretary General of the ‘Musée Napoléon’ (Musée du Louvre) and its temporary director. 
• (Possibly) M. Camille Groult (1837-1908), Paris. 
• Sir Robert Henry Edward Abdy, 5th Bt. (1896-1976), Paris. 
• Mrs. Peter Cooper Hewitt (1842-1934), New York; her sale (†), American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, New York, 6 April 1935, lot 613. 
• Frederick R. Bay, New York, by 1936, until at least 1939. 
• Charles Ulrick Bay (1888-1955), New York, by 1942, and by inheritance to his widow, 
• Josephine Bay Paul, New York, 1955, by whom gifted as ‘Rubens’ to, 
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 60.169), in 1960, catalogued as ‘a copy after Rubens, probably 17th century’, and deaccessioned in 2013; Sotheby’s, New York, 31 January 2013 (=1st day), lot 107, as ‘Follower of Peter Paul Rubens’ ($626,500), when acquired by the present owner. 

估價：£3,000,000 - 5,000,000

拉卡奇（Ludovico Carracci，1555-1619）《Portrait of Carlo Alberto Rati Opizzoni in armour, three-quarter-length, wearing the Order of the Knights of Malta, the city of Bologna beyond》

拍品編號：36
尺寸：102 x 86.2cm
來源：

• Conte Luigi Amedeo Rati Opizzoni (1877-1946), Turin, to whom gifted by the city of Bologna (according to family tradition), before 1911, and thence by direct family descent (in New York by 1930), until sold in the following, 
• Anonymous sale [Property from a New York Estate]; Sotheby’s, New York, 27 January 2005, lot 125, when acquired by the present owner. 

估價：£3,500,000 - 5,000,000

林布蘭（Rembrandt，1606-1669）《Christ presented to the people (‘Ecce Homo’)》

拍品編號：22
尺寸：38.7 x 44.8cm
來源：

• Gabriel von Cronstern [II], probably acquired in the 1760s from Pierre Yver in Amsterdam.
• By descent in the family of the Grafen Plessen-Cronstern, Schleswig-Holstein; their sale, Christie’s, London, Important Old Master Prints from a German Family of Title – Part I, 10 December 1991, lot 54.
• Samuel Josefowitz (1921-2015), Lausanne; acquired at the above sale.
• Then by descent to the present owners. 

估價：£2,200,000 - 3,500,000

 

拍賣詳情

拍賣行：倫敦佳士得
場次：古典大師晚間拍賣
拍品數目：61
拍賣時間：2018/7/5｜7pm