A painting by Italian master Sebastiano Ricci, long presumed to be lost, has turned up in Texas after a 300-year journey from the hands of a European nobleman playboy to a fur trader and finally through generations of one family.
Ricci's "The Vision of St. Bruno" will be offered by Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries on Nov. 20. Heritage officials say the painting has been conservatively estimated to fetch at least $600,000.
The family that owns the work asked Heritage chairman of fine arts Edmund Pillsbury a year ago to take a look at a painting they had stored in a warehouse.
They thought it could be a Ricci, but Pillsbury was skeptical.
He was floored when he realized that the 3-by-4 foot painting - depicting a robed St. Bruno looking up at a colorful grouping of angels - did indeed appear to be the work of the famous Venetian painter.
Not only 'appeared to be', but in fact was.
Just goes to show - your never know what is in the attic or the basement or the storage shed, now do you?!
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