Anonymous painting bought at auction on hunch' identified as two-in-one Rubens

"I wasn't sure it was a Rubens, I just knew it was very Rubens-esque, so it was still a gamble, said Muller, who describes himself as a passionate admirer of the 1577-born artist and diplomat. I have a library of books about him at home and look at them most evenings, he told the Guardian. It's a bit of an addiction."

"He felt more confident when the painting was delivered to his home. It was very dirty, but the varnish had protected the painting very well and I could see that it was of extremely high quality. But it was not until after the picture was studied for several months last year by the art historian Ben van Beneden, a former director of the Rubens House, that Muller started to feel confident he had acquired a genuine old master."

Klaas Muller acquired a reused study showing two heads in one sheet, with a bearded old man and a woman's silhouette appearing by changing orientation. The painting was bought online for less than 100,000 from a lesser-known northern European auction house listed as an undated study by an anonymous Flemish-school master. The old man's head sits on a reused sheet and the woman's silhouette shows through the beard when turned over. Comparable Rubens studies have sold for 500,000 to 1m. Muller noted strong Rubens-like quality beneath dirt and varnish. Art historian Ben van Beneden examined the work and judged it very likely genuine, while urging caution.

Read at www.theguardian.com