National Gallery spends £16m on altarpiece by unknown artist
A mysterious 500-year-old altarpiece has become one of the most expensive purchases for the national collection despite a lack of information about it, even the nationality of its creator.
The National Gallery has bought the work featuring the Virgin, a brace of playful angels and a slobbering dragon for £16.4 million from an anonymous owner, even after a panel of experts were unable to agree on the identity of the artist.
The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret and Two Angels was of 'outstanding importance', the gallery said, adding that it hoped further research would solve the 'conundrum' of its creation.
Tests on the 1.2m high altarpiece have established that the oak tree used for its panel was felled around 1483, and the
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