{"id":2067,"date":"2025-07-05T14:37:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T14:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsfeed99.com\/?p=2067"},"modified":"2025-07-05T14:37:27","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T14:37:27","slug":"painting-found-gathering-dust-in-a-connecticut-barn-for-more-than-a-century-sells-at-auction-for-7-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsfeed99.com\/?p=2067","title":{"rendered":"Painting Found Gathering Dust In A Connecticut Barn For More Than A Century Sells At Auction For $7 Million"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the painting was painstakingly restored, it was revealed to be the 1666 masterpiece “View of Olinda, Brazil” by Dutch artist Frans Post, one of the few European painters to visit the Americas in the 17th century.<\/h2>\n
\"Frans<\/p>\n

Sotheby\u2019s<\/span>The 1666 painting by Dutch artist Frans Post, \u201cView of Olinda, Brazil,\u201d that was found in a Connecticut barn attic.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In 1998, a dirty, dust-covered painting was found in the attic of a barn in Connecticut. The painting would soon turn out to be a lost masterwork by 17th-century Dutch artist Frans Post.<\/p>\n

Known as \u201cView of Olinda, Brazil, with Ruins of the Jesuit Church,\u201d the painting underwent restoration at the urging of George Wachter, the chairman of Sotheby\u2019s North and South America, and was soon returned to its former glory.<\/p>\n

Now, the painting has sold at auction for $7 million after just two minutes of bidding.<\/p>\n

How Frans Post\u2019s \u201cView Of Olinda, Brazil\u201d Was Transformed After Its Rediscovery<\/h2>\n

When the painting was discovered in the barn attic, it was unrecognizable, Wachter remembered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was filthy, black, dirty,\u201d Wachter said, according to\u00a0Robb Report<\/em><\/a>. \u201cYou could hardly see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Wachter had a hunch that the unknown painting hidden under the grime would be spectacular, and he convinced two collectors to believe in his vision and buy the work for $2.2 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018This is a killer,’\u201d Wachter recalled. \u201cAnd so they trusted me because they couldn\u2019t see it. It was jet black.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wachter got the premier conservator of Dutch and Flemish paintings in New York, Nancy Krieg, to help restore the painting. Krieg used a process of cleaning the painting with cotton swabs and solvents, working to reveal a Brazilian landscape behind the dust and grime.<\/p>\n

According to David Pollack, senior vice president and head of Old Master paintings at the Sotheby\u2019s auction house, art restoration is painstaking work.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an art and a science, the process of cleaning,\u201d Pollack said.<\/p>\n

Slowly but surely, little bits of the painting began to be revealed as Krieg worked to restore the painting. The sky became incredibly blue, ruins of a church could be seen in the foreground, with people and animals then emerging around it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a little anteater in the corner, and all these animals running around and all the different kinds of figures,\u201d Wachter said.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Frans Post\u2019s \u201cView from Olinda, Brazil\u201d was revealed in all its splendor, just as it had looked more than 300 years before.<\/p>\n

Now, more than a quarter-century later, the painting has been sold again. Before auction, the 23\u2033x35\u2033 painting had an initial estimated selling price of $6 million to $8 million, and it eventually\u00a0sold at Sotheby\u2019s for $7 million<\/a>. This selling price was a new record for Post, whose previously highest-value work sold for $4.5 million in 1997.<\/p>\n

Why Post\u2019s Experience In Brazil Made Him One Of His Era\u2019s Most Unique Artists<\/h2>\n
\"Frans<\/p>\n

Wikimedia Commons<\/span>Frans Post arrived in Brazil in 1637 at age 24 and lived there for the next eight years.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Frans Post was born in 1612 in the Dutch town of Haarlem, before making his way to what was then a Dutch colony in Brazil at the age of 24. Post\u2019s time in Brazil would leave a lasting impression on his art.<\/p>\n

It was during his eight years in Brazil that Post would be influenced to create paintings depicting the region\u2019s landscapes and people, even after returning home to the Netherlands. Post became one of the first European artists to use the New World as his inspiration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Originally, Post\u2019s audience consisted of people who had been to Brazil and wanted an accurate depiction of life in the colony. However, over time, this focus shifted and people began to desire idealized depictions of Brazil rather than accurate native landscapes.<\/p>\n

\"Frans<\/p>\n

Wikimedia Commons<\/span>Frans Post\u2019s other painting known as \u201cView of Olinda,\u201d this one from 1662.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cView of Olinda, Brazil, with Ruins of the Jesuit Church,\u201d represents the phase in Post\u2019s career of presenting exotic imagery of Brazilian landscapes to his audience. Works like this painting were valuable even during Post\u2019s lifetime.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was painting for a very open, ready market,\u201d said Pollack. \u201cThis was his calling card, these views of Brazil. And to have something on this scale certainly ranks it in the top tier, no doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

How exactly the \u201cView of Olinda, Brazil,\u201d ended up in a barn attic in Connecticut is uncertain. According to Wachter, it could\u2019ve been there for more than 100 years before it was rediscovered.<\/p>\n

Before finding its way to Connecticut, the painting moved through Parisian art collections throughout the 18th century. At one time, it was owned by Napoleon Bonaparte\u2019s uncle, Cardinal Joseph Fesch.<\/p>\n

And now, upon this latest sale, this rediscovered masterwork is continuing its dramatic journey through history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the painting was painstakingly restored, it was revealed to be the 1666 masterpiece “View of Olinda, Brazil” by Dutch artist Frans Post, one of the few… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPainting Found Gathering Dust In A Connecticut Barn For More Than A Century Sells At Auction For $7 Million - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newsfeed99.com\/?p=2067\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Painting Found Gathering Dust In A Connecticut Barn For More Than A Century Sells At Auction For $7 Million - 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