An early work by Venetian master Titian, once found in a plastic bag after being stolen, has fetched a jaw-dropping £17.6 million at Christie’s in London. This sale sets a new world record for the artist, showcasing the 1510 painting Rest On The Flight Into Egypt created when Titian was just 20 years old.
This painting has a rollercoaster past. Originally hanging in the drawing room of Longleat House in Wiltshire, it was swiped in 1995. Seven years later, it was discovered without its frame in a plastic carrier bag at a London bus stop. The recovery was thanks to former Scotland Yard detective Charles Hill, who’s also famous for finding Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ after it was stolen in 1994.
Lord Bath, who inherited Longleat in 2020, called the painting’s history “extraordinary.” He explained, “We have a long-term investment strategy at Longleat and decided to sell this asset to further our plans, especially with the market for such rare paintings being so strong right now.”
The painting, depicting Mary cradling Jesus with Joseph looking on, measures 2ft (60cm) wide and is painted on a wooden panel. It has passed through many hands over the centuries, including Austrian Emperor Joseph II, before being looted by French troops in 1809 for the Napoleon Museum. It was later owned by a Scottish landowner before the fourth Marquess of Bath bought it at a Christie’s auction in 1878.
Christie’s global head of the Old Masters Department, Andrew Fletcher, described it as “the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.” He praised the painting as “a truly outstanding example of the artist’s pioneering approach to both the use of colour and the representation of the human form in the natural world.”
With an auction estimate of £15m-£20m, the painting’s final sale price of £17.6m confirms Titian’s status as one of the greatest painters in Western art history. This sale is not just a testament to Titian’s talent but also a captivating chapter in the artwork’s dramatic journey.
