‘Lost’ 15th-Century Paintings Found Hanging Behind a Door
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Two “lost” paintings by the Renaissance artist Fra Angelico have been discovered hanging behind a door in a modest, two-bedroom, terraced house in Oxford.
The discovery has been hailed as one of the most exciting for a generation. The paintings of the Dominican saints, which are expected to fetch a combined total of more than $1.9 million at auction, belonged to a 77-year-old spinster who died earlier this year. The discovery, hailed as one of the most exciting for a generation, has solved a 200-year-old mystery.
Angelico was commissioned by Cosimo De Medici to create an altarpiece in the 1430s. He painted eight panels for the high altar at the Church and Convent of San Marco in Florence.
However, during the Napoleonic wars nearly 400 years later, the French split up the altar, and the pieces were spread around the world.
Over the years, six of the works were identified in collections, but the whereabouts of the other two have remained a mystery until their discovery this year at the Oxford home of Jean Preston.
Ms. Preston’s father, Kerrison Preston, bought the paintings in America in the 1960s and gave them to his daughter when he died in 1974.
At that time, a probate value of $760 was placed on them.
For the last 10 years, the paintings, measuring 15 inches by five inches, have hung behind the door of Ms. Preston’s spare bedroom.