Rubens' 'Portrait of a Lady' on auction in Warsaw in March

Poland's top auction house says it is putting up for sale Rubens' 17th century masterpiece “Portrait of a Lady” next month

Poland Rubens Auction (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Peter Paul Rubens' 17th century masterpiece “Portrait of a Lady” is being offered for sale at an auction in Poland next month, the DESA Unicum auction house said Thursday.

The Flemish master's baroque oil-on-canvas portrait of a dark-haired woman in a rich black velvet dress has an estimated value between 18 million and 24 million zlotys ($4.5 million- $6 million).

“This exceptional piece of art, one of the most precious in the world, has made its way to us,” DESA President Juliusz Windorbski told a news conference. "We are living a dream of every auction house in the world.”

The painting — owned by a British citizen — will go on auction in Warsaw on March 17.

Experts say the work, painted by Rubens around 1620-25, with involvement from his workshop, could be a likeness of Rubens’ first wife, Isabella Brant, or of a member of the Duarte family of jewelers, who were Rubens' neighbors.

Its auction is expected to be one of the largest art sales ever held in Central and Eastern Europe, according to DESA Unicum.

Offered at the same auction will also be works by Italian painter of Giovanni Battista Lampi, who lived between 1751 and 1830, and by Polish masters of the 19th and 20th century like Jacek Malczewski, Leon Wyczolkowski and Aleksander Gierymski.