British art historian Christopher Wright claims he owns an authentic Van Dyck

British art historian Christopher Wright claims he owns an authentic Van Dyck, bought as a copy in 1970 for around a hundred euros. Christopher Wright, the renowned English specialist of the French and Dutch schools, possessed, without knowing it, a portrait painted by the Flemish master. He decided to lend the painting to a prestigious museum in England. In 1970, the renowned art historian Christopher Wright bought a copy of a painting painted by Antoine van Dyck (1599-1641), considered by fans of the Flemish school as the first disciple of Rubens. More than half a century later, like a miracle, the British specialist claims that this seemingly worthless canvas, a portrait of Isabella Clara Eugenia, Infanta of Spain and regent of the Spanish Netherlands, would be by the master himself. The British expert explained to our colleagues from the Guardian how he had made this incredible discovery: “ The shoemakers are often the worst shod. I bought it from a junk dealer for just £ 65, thinking it was just a copy of a Van Dyck. Today I think it is worth at least 40,000 euros, maybe more; some works of the Flemish master have recently gone for more than 100,000 euros at auction. " Indeed, the portrait of the Infanta, best known in history by her name of queen, Isabella of Austria , sat quietly in the middle of Christopher Wright's living room for some fifty years. His friend Colin Harrison, principal curator of European art at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, visiting his home, assured him without hesitation that he possessed an original work by Antoine Van Dyck. After this first word from a specialist in Van Dyck and the Flemish and Dutch school, the portrait of the Infanta was appraised by specialists from the Courtauld Gallery, a mythical English museum closely linked to the University of London. The report, written by Professors Kendall Francis and Timothy McCall, recalled that Van Dyck and the students in his studio painted many portraits of infants in the preamble. It would be difficult to " determine with complete certainty the degree of 'involvement of the master in the painting dedicated to Isabella Clara Eugenia ”. However in their conclusions, the two experts did not hesitate to affirm, " The great mastery of drawing leads us to propose provisionally that this portrait be attributed to Van Dyck's studio, and even to add that it was completed during Van Dyck's lifetime under his final supervision. " True passionate about art, Christopher Wright now wishes to lend “ his Van Dyck ” to a fine British institution. The portrait of Isabelle Clara Eugenia should soon be enthroned in the middle of the prestigious Cannon Hall Museum in Barnsley, a venerable institution located in Yorkshire, near Leeds, in the north of England. Le Figaro cultural article.