Valuable Paintings

A few weeks ago we wrote about a missing lottery ticket that could hold the key to a secret fortune, just waiting to be collected. Well it seems that there are hidden treasures popping up all over Wales.

In a small cottage in Welshpool, not far from us here at the Oakeley Arms, a hidden treasure was discovered in the form of a rare and very valuable original painting. It was spotted by an auctioneer from Shrewsbury, and is set to be auctioned for a whopping £100,000.

The painting had hung on the walls of the cottage for decades, after being bought by the cottage owner’s father in London in the 1930s. The owner had no idea that the painting was so rare, or valuable, and it turns out that it is the work of seventeenth century Dutch artist Dirck van Delen. It is one of his earliest works, which makes it even more valuable.

One of Dirck van Delen’s paintings

The lucky owner of this hidden painting is in for a windfall, and the art world will gain a painting it thought was long lost. Here are more works of art that are thought to have mysteriously vanished. Perhaps it’s time to check the attic??

• Van Gogh – two paintings from the Dutch master were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam at the end of 2002. One was called Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Neunen and the other was View of the Sea at Scheveningen. The paintings are thought to be worth around £25 million, and there is a reward of almost £1 million for anyone who can return them to the museum
• Vermeer – Another Dutch painter, from the seventeenth century, Vermeer’s painting The Concert was stolen from an American museum in what was the USA’s biggest art theft, and one that the FBI are still investigating. The reward is £3.2 million, but the painting itself is worth over £130 million!
• Raphael – one of Italy’s most renowned artists, his painting Portrait of a Young Man dates back to the early 1500s and is one of his most famous works. Sometime during the Second World War it vanished, thought to have been used to decorate Hitler’s office, and it hasn’t been seen since.
• Rembrandt – another of the Netherland’s most artistic sons, Rembrandt’s painting Storm of the Sea of Galilee was one of 13 paintings stolen in America’s largest art theft in 1990. The reward up for grabs is a whopping £3.2 million.

So, maybe it’s time to check the attic and scour the car boot sales – here at the Oakeley Arms we could do with a few spare million!

Read the full story and more here