Restored Chopin portrait bought from flea market going on exhibition

A peeling portrait of Frederic Chopin purchased at a flea market in Poland has been dated back to the 19th century.

Now restored and in a gilded frame, the small painting of the Polish composer resides in a bank vault somewhere in the east of the country while its owners negotiate their next steps, including a public exhibit.

News of the artwork’s existence broke this week as Warsaw hosted the 18th Frederic Chopin Piano Competition, an international event known for launching the careers of world-class pianists, which runs until October 23.

The painting had hung for almost three decades in a private house before going on sale in the street market.

Nicolaus Copernicus University professor Dariusz Markowski, the art expert who examined and restored the 11.5in by 9in portrait last year, said it has significant historic and emotional value, but he refrained from estimating how much it might sell for.

Using advanced methods, Prof Markowski dated its creation to the mid-19th century based on the materials and pigments used, as well as the extent of the ageing and damage.

“It is evidently Chopin, but I cannot say whether he posed for this portrait or whether it was painted from another picture,” said Prof Markowski, principal of the Torun university’s conservation and restoration of modern art department.

“We know nothing of its history or who it was painted for,” he told The Associated Press. “It was in a very bad state, and I’m really happy that artwork like this can be saved.”

Chopin was born in 1810 in a manor house in Zelazowa Wola, a village near Warsaw, to a Polish mother and a French father.

He left Poland at 19 to broaden his music education in Vienna and then in Paris, where he settled, composing, giving concerts and teaching piano.

He died in Paris on October 17 1849 and is buried at the Pere Lachaise cemetery, but his heart is kept at the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw, where the anniversaries of his birth and death are commemorated.

An art connoisseur spotted the portrait that Prof Markowski calls “a real curiosity” at a flea market near Lublin in the early 1990s.

Decades later, a financial situation prompted the family to seek a professional appraisal, which led them to the university expert.

A member of the family said it is “extraordinary” that the painting survived about 170 years of historic turmoil and ended up in a flea market.

He said the family’s recent attention to the portrait made him study Chopin’s life and music.