Overview
- The crucifixion painting, missing from records since about 1613, sold for €2.3 million hammer (€2.94 million with fees) in a Versailles sale run by Osenat.
- Rubenianum specialists, including art historian Nils Büttner, authenticated the work following a dossier of high‑resolution imaging, pigment analysis and microscopic examination.
- Büttner noted the scene shows blood and water issuing from Christ’s side, a depiction scholars consider unique within Rubens’ known output.
- Auctioneer Jean‑Pierre Osenat identified the canvas during a September 2024 inventory at a private mansion in Paris’s 6th arrondissement.
- Provenance research traces 19th‑century ownership to painter William Bouguereau or his daughter, with the work remaining in the family until the recent sale; the buyer remains anonymous.