PARIS—A 400-year-old picture that might have been painted by Italian master Caravaggio has been found in an attic in southern France.
Eric Turquin, the French expert who retrieved the painting two years ago, said it is in an exceptional state of conservation and estimated its value at 120 million euros (about $135 million), even though he acknowledged experts disagree about its authenticity.
Called “Judith Beheading Holofernes,” it depicts the biblical heroine Judith beheading an Assyrian general. It is thought to have been painted in Rome around 1604-05.
Turquin told a news conference on Tuesday that there “will never be a consensus” about the artist.
Two Caravaggio experts he consulted with attributed the painting to Louis Finson, a Flemish painter and art dealer who was familiar with Caravaggio, Turquin said. Finson possessed a number of works from the Italian master and made copies of his pictures.
