Rembrandt Painting Discovered in a Maine Attic Sells for $1.4 Million

Art appraiser and auctioneer Kaja Veilleuxwas was on a routine visit to a private estate in Camden, Maine, when he came across a 17th-century painting by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn—the renowned Dutch Golden Age painter—stored away in the attic. Labeled as Portrait of a Girl, the piece sold for $1.4 million in an auction.

"On house calls, we often go in blind, not knowing what we'll find," Veilleux told the Associated Press. "The home was filled with wonderful pieces, but it was in the attic, among stacks of art, that we found this remarkable portrait."

Painted on an oak panel and mounted in a hand-carved gold Dutch frame, the artwork depicts a young girl in traditional Dutch attire. A label on the rear of the portrait from when it was loaned to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1970 lists the artist and title. It was owned privately by the family since the 1920s, according to the Thomaston Place Auction Galleries.

Thomaston Place holds an annual Summer Grandeur sale and included the Rembrandt piece for auction. The three-day event featured an intense bidding war from bidders around the globe, as it "displayed impeccable preservation for its age," Veilleux explained. The painting was eventually sold for $1.4 million—a record-breaking sale for the business.

This was a rare find in the States. "Usually they're found in Europe because that's where most of them were," Veilleux said in an interview with WMTW-TV of Portland, Maine. "But this one made its way to America."

As for why it was hidden away in the attic, Veilleux told the New York Times, "That's part of the mystery." He added, "It's a good thing we found it. Anyone else wouldn't have known what to do with it."

While Portrait of a Girl has yet to be authenticated, its value will likely increase. "The person who bought the painting for $1.4 million already got a great bargain," Mark Winter, an authentication expert, tells the Times. "We don't discover new paintings by Rembrandt every day."