Rijksmuseum Covets Pricey British Rembrandt

Martin Bailey today reports in The Art Newspaper that the Rijksmuseum is negotiating to buy "one of Britain's greatest privately-owned Rembrandts"---"Portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet." The price was expected to be about £40 million ($78.8 million), he said. The painting, from from Penrhyn Castle in North Wales, is currently on loan to the Amsterdam museum.

If the sale goes through, this would be yet another cliffhanger episode in the continuing series of museums desperately trying to buy expensive masterpieces with money they don't have and will have great difficulty raising.

According to The Art Newspaper:

The Penrhyn Rembrandt would...be the most expensive work of art ever acquired by a Dutch museum. The Rijksmuseum is only likely to be able to proceed if it receives a special government grant, and this will need cabinet approval, with a decision expected next month. Such a grant would have to cover well over half the cost. Applications would be made to the state lottery and other donors. The museum would also have to make a substantial contribution from its own funds.

Bailey says that the $78.8 million price would "more than double" the auction record for the artist. CultureGrrl readers know that the auction record for Rembrandt (including the buyer's premium paid to the auction house) is $28.69 million. This could change in about two minutes from this posting, when Sotheby's will have taken bids on "Saint James the Greater," estimated to bring $18-25 million (plus premium). Come back here for the update (see below).

An export permit delay by the British government, to give public institutions a chance to match the price, would be inevitable. Would someone now like to revise to 26 the recently released list of the 25 most important privately owned paintings in Great Britain? It's got three Rembrandts, but not this one.

UPDATE: Saint James The Greater just sold at Sotheby's for $23 million (with buyer's premium: $25.8 million), within its presale estimate. No word yet from Sotheby's about the buyer. The above-mentioned previous auction record, for Portrait of a Lady in Black Costume and a Cap and Collar (sold Dec. 13, 2000 at Christie's, London) still stands.