		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="111265417"
		 data-section="1">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div><p>A long-lost painting by the artist Caravaggio was almost stolen by burglars years before it was rediscovered in an attic in Toulouse.</p>
<p>The work by the Italian master, found five years ago in a farmhouse in the French city, was unveiled on Thursday in London after being restored.</p>
<p>Burglars broke into the home and stole items including bottles of perfume but left the painting as they thought it worthless, according to auctioneer Marc Labarbe.</p>
<p>Titled Judith And Holofernes and valued at £129 million, the piece sat for a century in anonymity against a wall between old clothes, family antiques and crockery.</p>
<p>Speaking at the unveiling of the work at the Colnaghi gallery, Mr Labarbe joked the burglars had not deemed the painting “adequate” enough to steal it.</p>
<p>He said: <em>“One of my clients was clearing his attic and he needed two men to help him. It took a year to sell all the antiquities.</em></p>
<p><em>“Clocks, toys, pieces of religion, in good and bad condition, clothes, crockery, as well as many things of no interest. Everything was very dusty.</em></p>
<p><em>“I have to tell you that a few years before, burglars broke into the attic and stole many things, included eau de parfum bottles.</em></p>
<p><em>“Fortunately, our painting was not adequate.”</em></p>
<p>He added: <em>“On the 23rd of April 2014, late in the morning, my client called me again because he had found a painting and wanted my opinion on it.</em></p>
<p><em>“I went to his house and climbed the stairs to the landing of the attic where the painting was displayed.</em></p>
<p><em>“At this moment there was what was like a fog across the whole canvas.</em></p>
<p><em>“The painting was blurry and it was almost impossible to see the details, but I was impressed by the state of the composition.”</em></p>
<p>According to Paris-based art appraiser Eric Turquin, the work was painted in 1607.</p>
<p>It depicts the biblical tale of Judith, a widow from the city of Bethulia, who breaks the siege of her home by seducing the Assyrian leader and beheading him.</p>
<p>It will be sold without reserve on June 27 in Toulouse at the La Halle aux Grains, with Mr Labarbe saying: <em>“This magnificent story began in Toulouse. It has to continue in Toulouse.”</em></p>
<p>The painting is Caravaggio’s second version of the same subject, with the first painted in Rome around 1600.</p>
<p>The discovery means there are now 68 known paintings attributed to the artist, who was born in 1571 and died in 1610 of suspected lead poisoning from his paint.</p>
<p>Judith And Holofernes will be on display at Colnaghi at 26 Bury Street from March 1 until March 9.</p>
			<div style="padding-bottom:15px;" class="wordads-tag" data-slot-type="belowpost">
				<div id="atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed176359fad">
					<script type="text/javascript">
						window.getAdSnippetCallback = function () {
							if ( false === ( window.isWatlV1 ?? false ) ) {
								// Use Aditude scripts.
								window.tudeMappings = window.tudeMappings || [];
								window.tudeMappings.push( {
									divId: 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed176359fad',
									format: 'belowpost',
								} );
							}
						}

						if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) {
							document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', window.getAdSnippetCallback );
						} else {
							window.getAdSnippetCallback();
						}
					</script>
				</div>
			</div>
Discover more from London Glossy Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
