Two small portraits attributed to Dutch painter Rembrandt fetched £11.2 million (€13.1 million) at an auction organised by Christie's in London on Thursday.
The paintings, depicting Jan Willemsz van der Pluym (ca. 1565-1644) and Jaapgen Carels (1565-1640), were painted in 1635. Sold in 1824 to an ancestor of the current British owners at the same auction house, the works remained in private hands for a long time and were only recently rediscovered.
For Henry Pettifer, Deputy Director at Christie's, this is "one of the most incredible discoveries in recent years concerning the great masters [of painting]." The two works are the Dutch artist's most intimate hand-signed portraits, he added. "They give us a better understanding of Rembrandt's undisputed genius" in the portrait style.
The son of Jan Willemsz van der Pluym and Jaapgen Carels had married a relative of Rembrandt, Cornelia van Suytbroeck. She and her husband Dominicus gave birth to a boy, Karel van der Pluym, who is known to have been trained by Rembrandt.
The couple's garden, immortalised by the artist, also adjoined that of Rembrand's mother.
Christie's had previously estimated the maximum price of the two paintings at £8 million (€9.3 million). The auction house did not reveal the name of the buyer, nor did it specify whether it was a private individual or a museum.
