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Yale finds priceless art in a basement

By 3 July 2010 2 Comments

So apparently, some janitor or curator or art history (ahem, History of Art) major discovered an early painting by Velazquez in the basement of the YUAG. It’s from 1617, 84 years before Yale was founded, and was given to Yale in 1925. The painting (“The Education of the Virgin”) was unsigned, and so had long been attributed to “Unknown,” a relatively obscure artist who lived in Seville in the 17th Century. It’s unclear how much the piece is worth, especially given that its BASEMENT HIDING PLACE led to some water damage, but experts have cited numbers in the millions. What other priceless artifacts might be hiding in the caverns of Yale? Other than endangered species taxidermy and human remains, that is.

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2 Comments

  • It had been suggested as early as the 1970s or 60s that this painting was by Valazquez. It was new testing that added further weight to the attribution… they didn’t just “find” it.

    anon at 9:29 pm on July 8th 2010

  • (That being said, Kanter is a great curator who wouldn’t just let it slip his mind once he saw the painting.)

    anon at 9:32 pm on July 8th 2010