Art enthusiasts are losing their heads over this discovery.
A highly rare and significant portrait of England’s monarch Henry VIII — thought to be lost in 1781 — has been hiding in plain sight on a British official’s wall, a historian discovered through a photo posted to X.
Sotheby’s auction house consultant Adam Busiakiewicz recently spotted the work in a picture taken during an official reception within a government building called Shire Hall.
It is where a local representative for the royal family, currently Lord Lieutenant Tim Cox, operates in town two hours north of London — and has ironically done so since the rule of Henry VIII.
“Strange discoveries can happen at any moment, it appears,” Busiakiewicz penned in a blog post on his discovery.
That painting seen in the far lefthand corner behind partygoers is that of Warwickshire painter Ralph Sheldon, who in the 1590s was commissioned to illustrate 22 portraits of “Kings, Queens and international figures,” Busiakiewicz wrote on X.
They were originally hung in Weston House, Sheldon’s home in the area.
However, he noted a great deal of the works are believed to have been “dispersed in 1781.” Just a few have survived the test of time, according to EuroNews.
Henry’s giveaway as being a Sheldon painting was from “the same arched top” from other works and it was “framed in a corresponding frame as other surviving examples,” the art historian added.
Upon the discovery, Busiakiewicz was invited to survey the painting to verify his thoughts. It has now been moved to a museum collection center for further analysis.
“The recent discovery of a ‘lost’ Henry VIII portrait via social media has opened up exciting possibilities for art recovery and identification,” NYC-based art appraiser Kelly Cahn told Forbes.
“Given that there is no central database tracking ownership and locations of significant artworks, social media’s vast reach presents new opportunities to locate works that were once lost to history.”
