AN UNKNOWN MURILLO?
It is in the possession of a portrait painter from Ancenis to whom an English amateur has already offered 450,000 francs for it

The whole of the West around Nantes is in turmoil; they are talking about nothing less than the
discovery, in Ancenis, of an authentic Murillo that Mr. Maillard, a portrait painter, is said to possess, with supporting evidence.
To connoisseurs anxious to see this marvel, he demonstrates that the colors of the canvas, lovingly restored by himself, can only be by the great master of Seville; that the Vision of Christ in the Garden of Olives (this is the subject of this work) equals, in its composition, all that the museums of Europe have of the most beautiful by the same Spanish colorist; the hairstyle of the angels is found in the Holy Family of the Louvre the color of Christ's cloak is that of the Virgin of the Assumption in the same gallery; the blue wings of the celestial figures also exist in the Kitchen of the Angels. The Prado in Madrid, the museums of Vienna, Budapest, Munich, Dresden, Petrograd and New York possess pieces whose details correspond exactly to those of the painting of Ancenis, for which an Englishman is said to have already offered 450,000 francs.
If really, and everything seems to prove it, this is a Murillo, as a signature dated 1670 would also lead us to believe, one is left to wonder if it is really admissible that such a masterpiece should leave France and not find a place in one of our great national collections.

V.

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo