London's National Gallery has acquired a $20 million altarpiece, *The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret and Two Angels* (1500-10), by an unknown artist. The purchase, funded by the American Friends of the National Gallery of London and brokered by Sotheby's, was made from a private collection to celebrate the museum's bicentenary. The painting, first documented in 1602 in Ghent, Belgium, features iconographical oddities including a unique dragon and a bawdy scene, and is painted on Baltic oak, suggesting a Netherlandish origin despite French elements like the fleur-de-lis.
The acquisition matters because it represents a significant investment in a work of uncertain authorship, underscoring the value placed on quality and historical intrigue over a known name. The altarpiece, long coveted by the National Gallery, will undergo ongoing research and public display, potentially resolving the mystery of its creator. This purchase highlights how Old Master paintings can command high prices based on craftsmanship and provenance alone, and it enriches the gallery's early Netherlandish collection with a rare, unattributed masterpiece.