Possible da Vinci painting found in Scottish farmhouse; could be worth $150 million

Experts say the six highlighted points indicate this may be a daVinci original (Daily Mail)

By Eric Pfeiffer, Yahoo! News | The Sideshow

Fiona McLaren, 59, had kept an old painting in her Scottish farmhouse for decades. She reportedly didn't think much of the painting, which had been given to her as a gift by her father. But after she finally decided to have the painting appraised, some experts are speculating that it may in fact be a 500-year-old painting by Leonardo da Vinci and potentially worth more than $150 million.

"I showed it to him [auctioneer Harry Robertson] and he was staggered, speechless save for a sigh of exclamation," said Ms. McLaren, according to The People.

The Daily Mail says the painting may be of Mary Magdalene holding a young child. The painting is now undergoing further analysis by experts at the Cambridge University and the Hamilton Kerr Institute, who will attempt to uncover its exact age and origins.

Even if the painting is not a da Vinci original, it is believed to at least be from the da Vinci school, created by one of the master's pupils during the 16th century.

A papal bull was found attached to the back of the painting and is believed to have originated from the era of Pope Paul V, head of the Catholic Church in the early 17th century. McLaren says the word "Magdalene," is visible on the faded paper.

McLaren says she hopes the painting is sold to a museum, and she plans to donate a percentage of the painting's sale value after it is auctioned.

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• Possible da Vinci painting found in Scottish farmhouse; could be worth $150 million

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Met Visitor's Picasso Stumble is $65 Million Oops: Expert

By CAITLIN MILLAT

This may be the most expensive stumble ever.

A Metropolitan Museum of Art visitor who lost her balance and tore a hole in a Picasso work Monday slashed the painting's $130 million value in half, an expert told the New York Post.

The 6-inch tear in Picasso's "The Actor" happened after a woman stumbled into the Met work, leaving it with a mark that could mean the painting could never be restored to its original condition, appraiser Gerard van Weyenbergh said.

"It's a 50 percent loss of the value -- at least," said van Weyenbergh.

"When an artwork comes up in auction, that's the first thing people want to know -- were there any repaints or restorations," the expert told the Post.

The six-foot by four-foot painting was hanging on the second floor when the woman fell, leaving the half-foot gash in the lower right-hand corner of the painting.

The "small hole" could mean that avid collectors -- van Weyenberg cited Steven Spielberg as one -- won't be interested in the tainted work, according to the art expert.

Met officials didn't identify the woman who made the $65 million oops but said they would have the painting restored later this year.

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Reclaiming Sacred Art

Interview With Creators of "Catholic Canvas"

ROME, APRIL 23, 2009 (Zenit.org.- A new Rome-produced series airing this spring on EWTN is doing its part to reassert the original evangelizing purpose of the greatest Catholic works of art.

"Catholic Canvas," which was filmed entirely in the Vatican Museums, recounts the history of man's salvation through the Church's rich and varied collection of art. The creators of the project call it a unique event in the history of art documentaries.

ZENIT interviewed the three people most involved with the project.

* * *

Mary Shovlain is the producer, director and creator of the program.

Q: What inspired you to develop this project? Out of all the many books, films and TV specials produced about art in the Vatican what makes this unique?

Shovlain: I have covered the Vatican for over a decade, I have advanced degrees in theology and for the past seven years I have been making television shows about the faith. I got tired of the ever-increasing programs on Vatican art, especially the Sistine Chapel, offering erroneous, secularized interpretations of the images of sacred events in Salvation History. Many of these shows often twisted or ignored the Christian message to promote individual agendas or even used the art as a loudspeaker to broadcast criticisms about the Catholic Church or the Popes, etc.

We wanted to reclaim the original intent and function of these world-famous works. Using their creative genius, Michelangelo, Raphael and others were evangelizing through art, trying to "incarnate" eternal mysteries.

Today, more than ever, we need beauty, and although some of the works we filmed are over 1,000 years old, they still proclaim objective truths clearly and powerfully to a frantic world lost in relativism...

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First Communion by Pablo Picasso

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