Imagine being said that a $1000 investment can bankroll with a lifetime in just a few months. Would you believe it? The extraordinary turn of events happened with a Spanish online thrifter when he brought a “fake” Degas online, but it hap to be an original work of the Impressionist master.
The pastel work sold on the Todocolección portal as a work signed by one of the Mides kings of art in 2021 was convincingly a fake piece. The tech-savvy who marked the highest bid kept it to just hang on its wall but with the team of experts including Michel Schulman, Judith Urbano, and Álvaro Pascual, and consultant Juan Arjona, they soon found it to be the authentic work of Edgar Degas.
The 48 x 62.5 cm cardboard titled Elogi del maquillage was presented at the French Institute in Madrid on May 27 of this year. Having the previous ownership from Catalan, a descendant of the Sabadell businessman Llonch Salas, who bought it from Francisco Mario Ricart in 1940, the artwork holds valuable documentation that was the key to certifying this piece.
The art piece was shown by Llonch Salas in public only once in Christmas 1952 in a non-commercial exhibition at Sala Gaspar. Back in the past, the painting’s first owner tended to be a Barcelona-based draftsman and engraver, Julià Bastinos, who brought it from Degas for 3000 francs in 1887.
The painting traveled to Cairo with its first owner and was repatriated to Barcelona by his brother, publisher, and politician Antoni Joan Bastinos after his death. The artwork remained with the Bastinos family till 1934, but during the war conflicts, it was saved in deposits to protect it from the revolutionaries’ attacks and fascist bombings. The artwork was returned to the Bastinos family after being saved from the Republicans, “Recuperado del enemy” in 1940.
The painting, In Praise of Makeup or Elogi del maquillage, shows two women from their back powdering their faces for a French Brothel. As the buyers announced this rediscovery, the experts believe it’s worth €7 million ($7.6 million) or as high as €12 million ($13.1 million).
Resources.
- El Punt Avui+.
- Featured Image: Elogio del maquillaje by Edgar Degas; Photo courtesy of Juan Arjona, via Artnet.
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