A painting fell off the wall of a country home outside Rome in 2016 and was sent off to an art restorer, Antonella Di Francesco, to be patched up. As she stripped off centuries of varnish Antonella became increasingly interested in what she was uncovering. It was not just any old painting but Rembrandt’s Adoration of the Magi, painted around 1632-33 and considered to have been long lost.
Copies of the painting had survived, the most famous being in Gothenburg and St Petersburg. The French Academy of the Villa Medici were called in to authenticate the painting and have recently confirmed that it is the real McCoy.
Although it is estimated to have a sale value of up to $240 million, the family have no intentions of putting it under the hammer. Instead, they propose to lend it out to galleries and museums which is jolly sporting of them.
At least, they should now be able to afford some plaster for the hole in the wall.
windowthroughtime 
I’m glad I don’t have to pay their insurance premiums!