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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Philip Oltermann European culture editor

Anonymous painting bought at auction on ‘hunch’ identified as two-in-one Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens
Head study shows a bald, bearded old man, his head slightly bowed and his gaze lowered by Peter Paul Rubens (Germany, Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp, Belgium)
The newly identified Rubens study depicts a bearded old man that the painter often used as a model. Photograph: Peter Paul Rubens/Klaas Muller/Brafa Art Fair

Is it a bald elderly man with a big bushy beard and a wine-addled stare? Or a friendly young woman with flowing locks and a crown of braids?

To Belgian art dealer Klaas Muller, an answer to that question mattered less than the fact that this particular take on the duck-rabbit optical illusion was painted by one Peter Paul Rubens.

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