Dutch trinkets appraisal show turns up Brueghel treasureAn art expert believes this small, circular painting depicting a peasant couple to be a previously unknown work by Pieter Brueghel the Younger. (AVRO/Associated Press)
A Dutch version of the popular television program Antiques Roadshow has uncovered what is believed to be a previously unknown work by 17th-century Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Younger.
A woman came forward with the small, circular painting depicting a peasant couple seated outdoors, producers of the show Between Art & Kitsch said on its website Tuesday.
The work depicts the couple resting next to a tree. The artist's signature is scrawled in the tree's trunk.
Art expert John Hoogsteder called the piece "the find of the century" and estimates its approximate value at between $116,000 and $143,000 Cdn.
"Because of the raised paint, which is caused by the contraction of the wooden panel, I'm convinced that it's an original from [the artist's] time," Hoogsteder said.
The shocked owner said her husband had purchased the painting, which dates from approximately 1620, from an antiques dealer for 100 guilders in 1959 (less than $1,000 today), according to show spokesman Rob Schwitters.
The episode, which will air in the Netherlands in March 2009, was filmed at the Rijksmuseum Twente art museum in the eastern city of Enschede.
Like the U.K. original Antiques Roadshow and other international versions, Between Art & Kitsch, which airs on the Dutch public broadcaster, features art and antiquities experts appraising treasures and trinkets brought in by collectors.
Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Younger, dubbed the Hell Brueghel for his depictions of fire and grotesque figures like goblins in his artwork, was the first son of Pieter Brueghel the Elder (known as Peasant Brueghel).
He was also the brother of Jan Brueghel the Elder, who became known as Velvet Brueghel.
