Lost for over 400 years, Rubens painting sells for $2.7 million at auction

Rebecca Rosman

November 30, 2025 / 2:00 pm

PARIS — For more than four centuries, people believed it had vanished.

But after being discovered in a Paris townhouse, a painting from the 17th century Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens sold Sunday at the Osenat auction house in Versailles for 2.3 million euros ($2.7 million).

The painting, titled Christ on the Cross , was completed in 1613 but soon vanished from public view. For centuries, its existence was known only through engravings, printed reproductions made by other artists. Its whereabouts remained a mystery until the auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat uncovered it in September 2024 during a routine inspection of a Paris home he was preparing to sell.

"It

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