Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt? Bidders Take a Flyer on £2.2-Million Portrait

"The Young Rembrandt as Democrates the Laughing Philosopher"

Is the subject of this portrait laughing at the successful bidder, or with him?

On Friday, the above painting, catalogued as "Follower of Rembrandt," was sold at Moore, Allen & Innocent in Norcote, England---one of those catch-all auction houses that count "agricultural and rural services" as one of its departments, right up there with "furniture and fine arts." (Finding the painting on the auction house's website is very complicated, but you start by going here and clicking "Online Catalogue." Then you need to navigate to "Sale Archive," "Picture Sale," and Lot 377.)

Offered with a reserve of £1,500 by the auction house, it brought a cool £2.2 million, thanks to two competing bidders who clearly thought that they were getting a steal on what might be the real deal---a Rembrandt self-portrait.

The BBC reports:

Philip Allwood from Moore, Allen & Innocent said he thought the portrait might be a Rembrandt but its owner said it had been checked and was not....Deciding to do some more research on the painting, Mr. Allwood spoke to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Experts there assured him that, while it was of the period of Rembrandt, it was "probably not" painted by him...."But on the day of the auction both the winner and underbidder seemed convinced it was genuine," Mr. Allwood added.

The name of the successful bidder was not announced. Time and a good cleaning may tell. Or maybe someone among the many discerning connoisseurs who are CultureGrrl readers already know the answer from this photograph. My gut reaction, from a lifetime of gazing at Rembrandts, is "not," but I'm certainly no specialist. There's always that time-honored category for new "discoveries"---Great Artist on a Bad Day.

UPDATE: More on this from the Guardian here. They report that the price with buyers premium totaled £2.58 million.