Early Van Dyck Painting Stained By Bird Droppings Could Sell For $3M At Auction

A painting by Flemish artist Anthony Van Dyck from the early 17th century was once lost and almost forgotten. Then, sometime in the late twentieth century, an art collector found the oil study in an upstate New York barn covered in bird droppings. Despite that, it could now fetch up to US$3 million.
 
The painting in question is titled A Study for Saint Jerome. It depicts an elderly male, naked and slumped over on a chair. His face is marked with wrinkles, and a grey beard denotes his age. He stares in astute contemplation at the ground below him with his hands limp by his side.

Sotheby’s estimates that the work was done between 1615 and 1618 while Van Dyck was an apprentice for Peter Paul Reubens. It was a study for the later produced Saint Jerome with an Angel. A part-time collector named Albert B. Roberts found the piece abandoned in a shed in Kinderhook, New York. He eventually purchased it for just US$600.

Roberts took to display the painting as is, bird droppings and all, describing it as being in pristine condition. Despite being marred by animal tracks, Susan Barnes, an art historian who identified the sketch in 2019, agrees that it is “surprisingly well preserved,” according to Sotheby’s.

Eventually, it was acquired by the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where the museum placed it alongside Saint Jerome with an Angel.

Part of the reason it was discarded in a shed was that these types of studies were never meant to be viewed by the public. Instead, its primary purpose was to serve as a draft for the final piece.

Roberts’ estate is now taking to sell the piece in an auction held by Sotheby’s this Thursday, where profits will be donated to the Albert B. Roberts foundation, which supports artists, creatives, and various charities.

 
 
 
[via Artnet News and Insider, images via Sotheby’s]