Recently-uncovered Titian masterpiece to be exhibited in Pécs

A Titian depicting Mary with the child and Saint Paul, the most valuable painting found in Hungary over the past half a century, will be exhibited in Pécs from Jan 7 to Feb 6, the director of the local House of Arts and Literature told reporters in Pécs on Wednesday.

Initially attributed to an unknown Italian master, the painting had adorned the wall of a residential home until 2005.

Andrea Kőhalmi said that the painting, initially attributed to an unknown Italian master, had adorned the wall of a residential home in Pecs. In 2005, however, it turned up at an auction to be sold to another private individual for 140 million forints (EUR 532,000).

Art historians had suspected that the unsigned painting was a Titian, but it was only subsequent X-ray examinations which proved them right. More evidence came in the form of an inventory showing that the picture was registered as a painting by Tiziano Vecellino (1488/90-1576) and kept in the collection of the prince of Modena in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The estimated value of the painting is 1.4 billion forints (EUR 53.2 million).

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