Rare Renaissance masterpiece hidden for 70 years could fetch £5m at auction
Exclusive: Experts say Albrecht Altdorfer’s 1520 landscape is ‘one of the most exciting discoveries imaginable’ An exceptionally rare painting, described as one of the earliest landscapes in western art, goes on auction in London next month. It was completed around 1520 by Albrecht Altdorfer, who is widely regarded as Europe’s first pure landscape oil artist.
Key points
- Albrecht Altdorfer's 1520 landscape, unseen publicly for 70 years, will be auctioned at Sotheby's London on 9 December.
- The painting is estimated at £3m to £5m and is the first known Altdorfer work for sale since 1980.
- Only two other pure landscape oil paintings by Altdorfer were previously known, in London and Munich.
A Renaissance landscape painted around 1520 by Albrecht Altdorfer, described as one of the earliest landscapes in western art, will be auctioned at Sotheby's in London on 9 December with an estimate of £3m to £5m. The painting has not been seen in public for 70 years because it was held in a private Swiss collection.
The work is titled A Thickly Wooded Landscape With a Rainbow Behind the Trees and a Distant Outcrop to the Right Beneath a Cloud-Laden Sky. It is the first known work by the artist to come up for sale since 1980, according to the article.
A rare discovery
Before the painting was identified earlier this year, only two other pure landscape oil paintings by Altdorfer were known: Landscape With a Footbridge, at the National Gallery in London, and Landscape of the Danube near Regensburg, at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
The owner's father acquired the painting in 1957 after it was held in the aristocratic collection of the counts of Harrach at the Palais Harrach in Vienna. It measures about 23cm by 20cm.
one of the most exciting discoveries imaginable in our field
— George Gordon
What experts said
George Gordon, co-chair of Sotheby's worldwide old masters department, called it "one of the most exciting discoveries imaginable in our field". He said the painting emanates an "intense mood that transcends its scale".
Gordon said Altdorfer, born in Regensburg in 1480, is among the most significant German Renaissance artists after Dürer. The painting will be shown at Sotheby's New York until 19 November, then at Sotheby's London from 4 to 9 December.
