A single bristle from a paintbrush might hold a clue to the origin of a mystery painting, found in Sydney, that some believe is a 17th-century masterpiece.
The artwork, an unusual depiction of a mother and child, is now thought to be at least 400 years old and has been credited by one restorer to Italian baroque master Artemisia Gentileschi, although some experts are sceptical.
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The old masters mystery
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Could a painting found in a suburban Sydney flat be the work of 17th-century master Artemisia Gentileschi? Charles Bennett Taylor describes his ongoing fascination with the Mother and Child painting.
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The old masters mystery
Could a painting found in a suburban Sydney flat be the work of 17th-century master Artemisia Gentileschi? Charles Bennett Taylor describes his ongoing fascination with the Mother and Child painting.
The mystery behind the painting is beginning to unravel as art specialists begin to examine it.
Gentileschi is one of the most renowned painters of her generation. Her Self-Portrait as a Lute Player fetched more than $US3 million at auction in New York in 2014.
Christina Neilson, a specialist in European art who teaches at Oberlin College and Conservatory in Ohio, inspected the artwork in Sydney on Wednesday.
As she was examining the painting, she spied a single hair clinging to the painting, which might help date the work.
"There was hair from a painting brush, but we don't know when it dates from," she said.
Dr Neilson said she was initially intrigued by the "unusual iconography", which was most reminiscent of Gentileschi, but the authorship was far from certain.
The painting depicts a wounded, blood-soaked mother casting off her child, which some have speculated was inspired by a painting from the fourth century BC.
"I had never seen this subject matter before and, given what we know about Artemisia Gentileschi's art and about 17th-century Roman art, violence was something people had a taste for," she said.
"It's a puzzle. I wouldn't say it is definitely her."
After inspecting the painting, she recommended a team of experts be formed, with expertise from Italy and the United States, to discuss it further.
"There are certainly some passages in the painting that are very beautiful and fine. There are some wonderful things things there – the head of the child is particularly fine."
Fine-art auctioneer Bonhams has now taken an interest in the artwork, with early observations suggesting the painting dates to the 17th century.
Bonham's Australian director Merryn Schriever said there was a long way to go before any attribution could be made, but experts from the company's Old Master's Department in London said the painting appeared to be from the right period.
"What we have supplied to them thus far suggests this is certainly of the period, but because it has become detached from its own history it has lost its linkages – that golden thread that takes it back to the 1600s," she said.
Members of the Old Master's Department will be in Sydney later in the year to further inspect the work.
The history of the painting can be traced to post-war Italy in 1947, when it was most likely bought by Swedish sea captain Petter Lennart Lilja, in the port town of Genoa.
An early examination of the work suggests it was restored in the 18th century, a costly exercise during the period suggesting the painting might have been regarded as a significant work.
Until recently, the painting sat in the Sydney apartment of 94-year-old former World War II artillery gunner Charles Bennett Taylor, who bought it for a modest sum from a gallery in Crows Nest in 1976.
An authoritative attribution would make the painting one of the most significant artistic finds in recent Australian history, but there remain many unanswered questions, and experts disagree on the Gentileschi attribution.
Adelina Modesti, a specialist in Gentileschi's art from LaTrobe University, has said the work might also be the work of Massimo Stanzione, a baroque painter working about the time of Gentileschi.
Mr Taylor said he does not want to make money from the painting, but wants to see it take its rightful place in art history. He said he was convinced it was a Gentileschi.
"It belongs to art and I'm sharing it. I'm sharing her with the world," he said.
"It is owned by the world, and it just breathes Artemisia."