Lot 377

Last Friday, a small English auction house sold a painting attributed to "a follower of Rembrandt". The painting was estimated at around 1000 GBP. Fifteen minutes after the bidding for lot 377 started, it sold for more than 2 million GBP. The bidding frenzy was fueled by beliefs that the work is a real Rembrandt. "If the portrait is accepted as a genuine Rembrandt the buyer will have got a bargain." And what if it isn't?

Praying for a buyer

On January 25, 'St James the Greater' will go on auction at Sotheby's New York. This Rembrandt masterpiece is estimated to sell for $18m - $25m.

According to the Economist, it will not be easy to find a buyer: "Such an intensely religious picture would appeal to a museum, but few have resources of this kind. One that does, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, is saying privately that it will not be bidding, as it has a similar picture already. That leaves private buyers. With year-end bonuses at record levels, more individuals than ever are rich enough to buy at this price. But religious subjects are not to many people’s taste, which makes them especially hard to sell. If the picture fails when the hammer falls, it will be a blow to Sotheby’s."

Read the full article here.