LOST RENAISSANCE MASTERPIECE BY LUDOVICO MAZZOLINO RECENTLY DISCOVERED

A LONG LOST MASTERPIECE BY THE RENAISSANCE ARTIST LUDOVICO MAZZOLINO HAS BEEN REDISCOVERED AFTER BEING LEFT FORGOTTEN IN A PACKING CRATE FOR NEARLY SIX DECADES, A LONDON AUCTION HOUSE HAS DISCLOSED. EXPERTS FROM THE NATIONAL GALLERY IN LONDON IDENTIFIED THE PAINTING AS THE WORK OF THE MASTER WHO STUDIED UNDER SOME OF THE GREATEST PAINTERS OF THE ERA, INCLUDING DOSSO DOSSI. THE PAINTING DEPICTS THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH ST JOSEPH IN AN ITALIAN-STYLE LANDSCAPE AND IS DATED 1522. NEXT MONTH IT IS SET TO GO UNDER THE HAMMER AT AUCTION, ALMOST 200 YEARS SINCE IT WAS LAST SOLD. AND ALTHOUGH THE ESTIMATED VALUE IS BETWEEN £40,000 AND £60,000, THERE IS EXPECTED TO BE GREAT EXCITEMENT OVER THE RARE SALE OF A MAZZOLINO - IN JULY 2005 A PAINTING BY THE ARTIST FETCHED ALMOST £350,000. THE PAINTING, WHICH IS TYPICAL OF MAZZOLINO'S DEVOTIONAL CABINET PICTURES, WAS LAST SOLD AT PUBLIC AUCTION IN LONDON IN 1812 FOR JUST £20.
THE PAINTINGS OWNER TOLD THE AUCTION HOUSE THAT HE HAD FORGOTTEN HE OWNED THE ARTWORK, WHICH NOW TURNS OUT TO BE A MASTERPIECE. IT WAS ONLY AFTER HE WAS SHOWING THE AUCTIONEERS PHOTOGRAPHS OF OTHER ITEMS HE WISHED TO SELL, THAT THEY STUMBLED ACROSS THE PAINTING. THE OWNER, A PENSIONER WHO LIVES IN A MODEST TERRACED HOUSE IN CHELTENHAM, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, SAID THE PAINTING HAD BEEN PUT INTO STORAGE IN 1950 AND HE SAID: "I'M DELIGHTED THAT THE TRUE HISTORY OF THIS PAINTING HAS BEEN REDISCOVERED AND I HOPE IT CAN GO ON SHOW TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC AFTER IT HAS BEEN SOLD." THE AUCTION IS SET TO TAKE PLACE AT DUKE'S AUCTION HOUSE OF DORCHESTER ON 1.OCTOBER.2009.