Priceless Painting found in Abandoned Paris Apartment

In Paris, an apartment sat locked up and untouched for 70 years. But it wasn't abandoned or empty. The rent was being paid, and the swanky pad was filled with furniture, books, and various works of art. One of those paintings, it turns out, was worth a great deal of money.

 The valuable work of art is by Italian artist Giovanni Boldini. It recently sold for 2.1 million Euros (around US$2.9 million) at auction. The painting's subject, "a woman in a pink muslin evening dress," was apparently Boldini's muse, Marthe de Florian. That hunch was legitimized by another titillating discovery in the apartment: a scribbled love note from the artist to de Florian. The apartment belonged to de Florian's granddaughter, who recently passed away at age 91.

One might well ask, "Why leave an apartment untouched and unused for all those decades, but still pay for it every month?" Good question. According to the Telegraph, the granddaughter left the apartment at the age of twenty one, just before the start of World War II and never returned. I wonder why she did not either live there or sell it.  Perhaps it was inhabited by Boldini's ghost. It does seem that she wished to preserve it just as it was.  

After her death, experts were sent to catalogue the inventory.  As the Telegraph writes, "Entering the untouched, cobweb-filled flat in Paris' 9th arrondissement, one expert said it was like stumbling into the castle of Sleeping Beauty, where time had stood still since 1900."  
Found among the thick layers of dust were an early Mickey Mouse toy, a wood stove, a stone sink—and the Boldini painting. The woman in the painting—who was rumored to be admired by French Prime Minister George Clemenceau—turned out to be the grandmother of the woman who abandoned the apartment. Although the painting had never been documented in records as being by Boldini, art historians feel the love letter written by the artist helps to authenticate the provenance. One historian later found a reference to the work in a book by the artist's widow, which said it had been painted in 1898 or 1900.                                                                                                              
News of the discovery sent Web searches on "giovanni boldini" skyrocketing 2,800% in just over 24 hours. Suddenly, it seems, people are eager to know more about the artist. Perhaps they want to compare his work to a few cobweb covered paintings in their basements. Could they have a fortune sitting there, gathering dust? Hope springs eternal, but before you get too excited, remember that Boldini never dabbled in the subject of dogs playing poker. Sorry.