Long-Lost Renaissance Masterpiece Found In Old French Attic

Priceless 17th-Century Caravaggio Painting Discovered Behind Mattresses In An Attic In France
Wikimedia Commons/Eric Turquin

It took five years of verification and restoration to prepare the 1607 Caravaggio for auction. It is expected to go for $170 million.

The painting is Caravaggio’s Judith and Holofernes and is estimated to have been created in 1607. It depicts the beheading of Assyrian General Holofernes by the beautiful widow Judith, for whom the former had affections.

The artwork is being prepared for auction in Toulouse, France, with bidding starting between $113.2 million to $169.7 million, mostly due to its obfuscated past. The hefty price tag could set a record⁠ seeing as the last most expensive Caravaggio went for a mere $145,500 in 1998.

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