Just when the Rubens’ world seemed to be safely recatalogued,
a great masterpiece has turned up in Amsterdam, having an estimated
value of up to 6 million when it is auctioned next summer. The
subject is ‘The Massacre of the Innocents’, and is of
a goriness and haemorrhage rating that exceeds recent emanations
of contemporary art at the Royal Academy, London. It is thought
to ‘pair’ with another Rubens, ‘Samson and Delilah.’
A central female figure, frontal in Samson and Delilah, and turning
away in ‘Massacre of the Innocents’ is thought to be one
and the same subject. The Austrian female owner finds the newly
discovered work less than palatable, and has no regrets selling
it, of course. The painting surfaced in Sotheby’s Amsterdam.
As they say, win some, lose some.
