Lost masterpiece found broken in two in gallery storage, after BBC expert identified it from cows' backsides.
lt did not look much like the work of an Old Master: a filthy panel broken clean in two, with much of its subject over-painted or obscured.
But the presence of some cows - specifically, their rear ends - was a clue to the painting’s illustrious history.
The work had languished for decades in a drawer at Birmingham Museum, and attributed to an anonymous artist, when it was spotted by Dr Bendor Grosvenor, art historian and presenter of the BBC series Britain’s Lost Masterpieces.
Inspecting the painting close-up for the programme, he said: “I’m drawn to the cows, particularly the rear ends of them. Now, if there is one artist in particular who loved the back end of a cow, it is Bruegel the Elder.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...found-broken-two-gallery-storage-bbc-expert2/
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