On March 17, 2022, an auction will be held in Warsaw, which will go down in the history of the Polish art market since such famous works have not been sold so far. With the expected auction amount of PLN 18-24 million, the 17th-century “Portrait of a Lady” by Peter Paul Rubens has a chance to become the most expensive work of art sold in Poland and attract the attention of art collectors from around the world.

Remaining in prestigious collections of European aristocrats, financiers and well-known collectors for over four centuries, “Portrait of a Lady” will be shown for the first time since 1965 to the public at the exhibition preceding the auction, which will be held at the DESA Unicum auction gallery in Warsaw from February 18 to the day of the auction.

The work was painted between 1620 and 1625 by Rubens with the participation of his workshop team in Antwerp. It is a portrait of a young, 20-year-old woman in a black dress and cape. According to art historians, the portrait depicts either the painter’s sister or wife.

Shortly thereafter, the picture was transferred to the British Isles and was owned by Sir Peter Lely, a leading English painter of the 17th century, a student of Anton van Dyck and an art collector. Then the work remained for over 160 years in one of the most magnificent aristocratic mansions in modern England – Stowe House. In the following decades, it was possessed by famous art dealers and collectors, Wynne Ellis and Martin Colnaghi and finally enriched the collection of Jules Porgès, a mining tycoon, an avid collector of precious stones and Dutch and Flemish masters.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the picture was considered an excellent example of Rubens’ portrait creativity.

“Portrait of a Lady” appeared at auctions in London four times: in 1682, 1848, 1872 and 1876. The auction at the largest Polish auction house, DESA Unicum, is its first sale in almost 150 years.

Adrian Andrzejewski