Discovered: €4m Goya painting
2006-05-13 16:07
Malaga - A Spanish art expert has discovered a previously unknown painting by Spanish master Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) on Britain's Isle of Man.
Malaga-based expert, Paulino Gimenez, said "The Rope", acquired for €18 000 as an anonymous work 35 years ago, is worth about ;euro;4m.
The painting shows a woman, dressed in Roman-style clothing and holding a child, looking down from a window.
Gimenez believes the painting was painted by Goya around 1770, when he was an art student in Italy.
The painting belongs to a British private collector who bought it in London.
The owner began suspecting the painting might have a link with Goya and called Gimenez, whose 10-month investigation led him to establish that the painting bore the hallmarks of Goya - such as a face hidden in it.
Goya created several works "with the same characteristics, figures and composition", said Gimenez.
The work was painted on an Italian-made linen canvas, backing other evidence that Goya created it while in Rome, he said.
Gimenez has also found "The Immaculate" by Goya, a court painter whose bold and subversive vision made him "a visionary ahead of his time".
Goya's best-known works are "The Third of May 1808", "Saturn Devouring His Son", "The Nude Maja" and "The Clothed Maja."
- SAPA