Who found this paiting? The answer is Simon Watney. He is a conservation adviser to the Church Monuments Society, and visited Holy Trinity in Bradford-upon-Avon in 2006. He is an expert in early religious statuary and on the trip this painting was caught his eye.
He said: “I couldn’t get a good look at it because the north aisle was full of a display of tapestries by the local sewing club, but I recognised it as a composition by Van Dyke.”
He and Kiffy Stainer-Hutchins, an art restorer and a leading authority on Van Dyke, later traveled from her home in Holkham, Norfolk,go to inspect the picture with him. Unfortunately, it was immediately obvious that it wasn't the genuine article. Then amazingly, another work stopped them in their tracks.
He said: "It was immediately clear the Van Dyke was an 18th-century copy but then I saw this little portrait of Christ in a horrible almost plastic-looking frame. I was amazed by the quality and I said straight away, ‘This is a Quentin Metsys.’”
They also noticed that unusually it was painted on two horizontal boards. At this point, Ms Stainer-Hutchins then made a critical connection. She remembered having once seen a Metsys portrait of the Virgin Mary that was also painted on two boards (above right).
And now after one year's tests, her initial guess has been confirmed - the painting is one part of a greater composition. A greedy art dealer had cut the complete painting in two to make more money. The missing half, unbeknown that such a piece ever existed, had been discovered.
“This painting is 500 years old and it is beautiful. It is going to be worth a great deal.”
A Metsys portrait sold for $1.1 million in 2008, so if the recent find can be re-acquainted with its long lost twin (currently held in the Fitzwilliam collection of Lady Juliet Tadgell) then you're looking at quite the collectible with one amazing story.
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