(Credits: Juan Arjona)
A piece of art that sold online for $1,000 has been revealed as a rediscovered Edgar Degas piece worth $13 million.
The buyer came across the coveted artwork online when it was listed as a “fake” Degas and proceeded to participate in a competitive bidding war. The original price began at $1, and although it was sold for considerably more than the original offer, it still proved to be a bargaiin.
The seller inherited the painting from his ancestor Joan Llonch Salas, a collector and former president of Banco Sabadell. Despite the painting’s inclusion of Degas‘ signature signage, the seller felt it impossible to be an original, therefore, he advertised the post with documents proving it was bought in 1940.
The pastel work has been documented as missing for several decades. Expert and author of the artist’s online catalogue raisonné Michel Schulman identified it as most likely Degas’ 1876 Éloge du maquillage (In praise of cosmetics), depicting a brothel scene.
After being revealed as a genuine Degas, industry experts have attempted to guess its worth, with estimates ranging from $8 million to $13 million, per El Nacional.
According to El Pais, Shulman enlisted art historians Judith Urbano and Álvaro Pascual, alongside consultant Juan Arjona Rey of Consultores Rey, to identify the painting as genuine, and came to the conclusion that “after an exhaustive analysis of pigments, a meticulous study carried out with X-rays and photographs, among other techniques,” it was an official Degas.
Artist Julián Bastinos bought the piece from Degas in 1887 for 3,000 francs, an exchange proven by its mention in a letter sent to Jean-Baptiste Faure. After Bastinos passed away in 1918, it was sent to his brother Antonio J. Bastinos. Spanish authorities confiscated the painting in 1934, and it was stored in the monastery of Pedralbes during the Spanish Civil War.
It was returned to the Bastinos family in 1939 and sold to Salas in 1940 for 3,000 pesetas. Its last known presence was in 1952 when Salas temporarily gave it to the Gaspar art gallery in Barcelona for exhibition.
