Unveiled: The $22 Million Renaissance Masterpiece Hiding a Drooling Dragon-Dog That Defies History
The gallery can’t identify the artist for sure. All they know is that it was probably painted around 1510, because the chain of the Order of Saint Michael worn by Saint Louis was modified in 1516. It was first documented at the urban priory of the Premonstratensian Abbey of Drongen in Ghent in 1602. While it’s unknown if the painting originated at the abbey, the Premonstratensians did revere Saint Louis and a swan, which appears in the painting, was also in the monastery’s coat of arms.
For now — perhaps forever — the painting will remain anonymous. But the National Gallery notes that it’s a good example of art historians’ “tendency to focus on names” and shows that in the late medieval and Renaissance periods “anonymity can intersect with extraordinary quality.”
After reading about the bizarre anonymous painting, The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret, discover the stories of seven surrealist artists and their most famous paintings. Then, learn about Artemisia Gentileschi, the Italian Baroque painter who created stunning paintings of female revenge after her rapist walked free.
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