Private individual wins portrait attributed to Velázquez for �8 million

It was a private individual who was awarded, for the sum of eight million euros, the Portrait of a Maiden that appeared earlier this month on the antiques market and was attributed to Diego Velázquez by the Abalarte auction house, at whose premises the auction was held yesterday at which the work was sold. The new owner will not be able to get the painting out of Spain, however, since in recent days the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports had issued a decree through which it declared the work inexportable.

The Spanish media reported some disappointment among those who had hoped that the Spanish state would be interested in purchasing the painting (a state official was present at the auction, but the state, contrary to what had been hoped for, decided not to exercise its right of pre-emption): however, it should be reiterated that experts have not yet pronounced on the painting, and that for now Velázquez’s name has been formulated by a single specialist, Richard de Willermin, a consultant to the Abalarte house. A preliminary opinion following the auction, however, came from Benito Navarrete, a professor of art history at the University of Alcalá, who, reached by El País newspaper, said he agreed with the attribution to Velázquez. However, he explained to the newspaper, “the important thing is that now the painting goes through a study campaign and restoration.”

Sources: El País - El Español

Image: Attributed to Diego Velázquez, Portrait of a Maiden (c. 1617; oil on canvas, 57.5 x 44 cm; Private collection)

Private individual wins portrait attributed to Velázquez for €8 million

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