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“The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and He adds no sorrow with it,” so says the Bible, Proverbs 10:22.
On Friday, a church almshouse was counting its blessings after discovering that a triptych painting that has hung in the chapel for centuries is a 15th-century Flemish masterpiece worth £3.5m.
The panelled artwork, displaying the five miracles of Christ, has been housed at the Almshouse of Saint John the Evangelist and John the Baptist, in Sherborne, Dorset, since before the Reformation.
The trustees asked an auction house to safeguard the altarpiece for security reasons while the almshouse underwent renovations.
Sotheby’s in London offered to do some research on the triptych in an attempt to date it and identify the artist. Eight world-renowned experts analysed it using scientific methods including dendrochronology, which is the dating of tree rings, and infrared reflectography.
They concluded the triptych was fashioned from East Baltic oak between 1480 and 1490 in Brussels by an unknown Flemish artist. Due to its rarity and quality, the 8ft wide, 3ft high oil and gold on panel triptych has been valued at £2.5m to £3.5m.
St John’s Almshouse said it cannot afford the insurance and security costs so it is putting the triptych up for sale, with the proceeds to be spent on supporting various projects to fund social housing in the Dorset market town. If the triptych performs to expectations at auction, it could fund six new accommodation units.
Mike Burks, one of the almshouse trustees, said: “We knew it was valuable, but there was quite a lot of debate about its value.”
The Sherborne almshouse, which is dedicated to Saints John the Evangelist and John the Baptist, received its royal charter from King Henry VI in 1437. The chapel was completed in 1442, four years after a royal licence was granted for 20 brethren (trustees) to provide shelter for 12 men and four women.
The triptych was concealed inside the almshouse to keep it safe during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation.
A Sotheby’s spokesperson said: “The Sherborne almshouse triptych is a quite remarkably intact altarpiece which has preserved its integrity from its construction and execution right through to the present day, for it has never left the almshouse in which it has been housed.
“Its survival is of considerable rarity, for few such works have survived both the Dissolution and the Puritan Iconoclasm of the following century.”
The sale will take place at Sotheby’s on 3 December.
