Poland snaps up da Vinci masterpiece at bargain price
Poland’s government has purchased a private art collection that includes a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, acquiring the works for a fraction of their true market value.
The collection comprises some 86,000 objects, among them da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine”, one of only four female portraits by the Italian Renaissance master.
It also includes Rembrandt’s “Landscape with the Good Samaritan” and works by Renoir. Poland’s state treasury paid 100 million euros for the entire collection, but its estimated worth is around 2 billion euros.
Prince Adam Karol Czartoryski, whose ancestors founded the collection, says he voluntarily parted with the works as an act of patriotism.
