The work depicts the biblical scene of Judith beheading Holofernes, a dramatic subject Caravaggio covered in an already-authenticated painting from 1602. The Caravaggio from ToulouseĮstimated Value: $136 MillionWhen a leaky roof caused a homeowner in Toulouse, France, to open up a formerly sealed attic space for repairs in 2014, there was quite a surprise inside: a painting thought to be by Italian Baroque master Caravaggio. With two Pollock paintings found in improbable spots in recent decades, it might be wise to keep an eye out for his signature splattered canvases at flea markets, garage sales and thrift shops. The painting was scheduled to go up for auction that June with a starting bid of $5 million and an estimated value of $10 million to $15 million, but the sale was indefinitely postponed when prospective bidders failed to pass credit and bank checks. Over the course of 18 months, Levine spent tens of thousands of dollars to authenticate the canvas, making the important discovery that its owner’s sister ran in an elite artistic social circle that included Pollock himself. When appraiser Josh Levine was evaluating an elderly man’s belongings, he began to suspect that one painting might be a Pollock. The Arizona Jackson PollockĮstimated Value: $15 MillionIn June 2017 it was revealed that a potential Jackson Pollock canvas found in a Sun City, Arizona, garage could be worth as much as $15 million.

As burden of proof expert Manny Medrano, who was hired by Norsigian, told CNN in 2010, “I have sent people to prison for the rest of their lives for far less evidence than I have seen in this case.” Norsigian is expected to earn approximately $200 million from sales of the prints over the next 25 years. Dozens of professionals have weighed in to authenticate the works, including a former FBI agent, a handwriting expert and a meteorologist, who compared the clouds in the photos to known Adams works thought to have been shot around the same time. After researching, Norsigian realized that the negatives might be the work of famed landscape photographer Ansel Adams. (Credit: Eric Paul Zamora/Fresno Bee/MCT via Getty Images)Įstimated Value: $200 MillionWhen browsing a garage sale nearly two decades ago, commercial artist Rick Norsigian bought two boxes of glass-plate photography negatives for $45, simply because he was drawn to the images of Yosemite, where he once worked. Rick Norsigian holding a Ansel Adams glass negative depicting Mirror Lake in Yosemite National Park.

Lost masterpiece found