A recently auctioned 1510 painting by Venetian master Titian, titled ‘The Rest on the Flight into Egypt’, has set a new world record for the artist’s works with a sale price of €20.6m (£17.5m) at London’s Christie’s auction house. This painting has a dramatic history of thefts, including being taken by Napoleon’s troops from Belvedere Palace in Vienna in the 19th century and stolen from Longleat House in England in 1995. It was found seven years later in a plastic carrier bag at a London bus stop. Former Scotland Yard detective Charles Hill, who found the painting, has also helped recover other famous artworks like Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’.
Andrew Fletcher, Christie’s global head of the Old Masters Department, described the painting as “a truly outstanding example of the artist’s pioneering approach to both the use of colour and the representation of the human form in the natural world”. ‘The Rest on the Flight into Egypt’ is considered the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in over a generation. The auction of this painting, one of the last early religious works by Titian in private hands, attracted significant attention.
Lord Bath, who inherited the Longleat estate and the painting, explained that the decision to sell was part of a long-term investment strategy at Longleat Estate and was made due to the strong market for paintings of such unique rarity. The painting, depicting the Holy Family pausing on their journey to Egypt, has an “extraordinary history” according to Lord Bath.
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