Rediscovered Titian

Martin Gayford of Bloomberg reports that the London Museum is now displaying a new re-discovered Titian, entitled The Triumph of Love, and dates to the mid 1500's is owned by Ashmolean Museum in Oxford after a tax sale by the previous owner. The price was $1.7 million, and the painting was in rather rough condition. Many thought is actually might not be a Titian under all of the grime and over-paint. But it was. The comments on rediscovery of existing paintings if very interesting.

Gayford states It’s surprisingly easy for a painting to blip off the radar, as I discovered when I served as one of the curators of the “Constable Portraits” exhibition this year at the National Portrait Gallery. In advance, I wouldn’t have guessed how much time and energy we spent simply trying to locate pictures. In some cases, it proved impossible to trace them, even though they were illustrated and described in standard books, had passed through top salerooms, and been included in major exhibitions.

Of course, these weren’t necessarily “lost” in that their owners may well know exactly what they have on the wall. It’s just that no one in the world of museums or academic study is in on the secret. Once the scholars have lost track, it’s not hard for a work to vanish completely.

Someone dies, and from prized possession it slips to “My uncle thought this dirty old thing was a Titian.” Next stop is a junk shop or a country auction, just the places where, from time to time, a masterpiece turns up.

To read the full article, click HERE.