The painting from the living room turned out to be an original by Anthony Van Dyck (5 photos)

Some things become so commonplace that we don't notice their value. Thus, a family from Andalusia, Spain, owned a 17th-century masterpiece by a Flemish painter for many decades and did not even know it.





"Charles I from three sides", 1635

The painting “Presentation of the Child Jesus to Saint Barbara,” painted by Anthony Van Dyck, hung in the living room of a family from the Spanish city of Jaen.

The photograph of the work, which has a religious nature, was not published. The size of the painting is only 130 by 92 cm. The family probably bought the masterpiece from the Flemings who arrived in Seville a couple of centuries ago.



"The Crowning of Christ with the Crown of Thorns", circa 1620

Anthony Van Dyck trained in the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens, and later became a court artist of the English royal family. His portraits of the doomed Charles I and other members of the ruling elite were softer than those of their predecessors.

Van Dyck died in 1641, eight years before Charles I would lose his head in the English Civil War.

"Portrait of King Charles I", 1632

Today, Van Dyck's name is associated with his signature goatee, and his portraits and religious works are held in museums and private collections around the world.



"Self-Portrait", 1640

The owner of the painting does not intend to speculate, but he is interested in it remaining in Seville, the city where the family now lives and with which he has a special connection,” said the family’s lawyer, Luis Baena.

The family plans to ask for a "fair and reasonable price." Most likely, the buyer will be the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville.



"Equestrian portrait of Anton Giulio Brignole-Sale", 1627