After making a wish, financial freedom

Chapter 579 Two Sketches by Rembrandt

That afternoon, Fanny ran out of the mansion before nightfall, and then went to find one of her fellow villagers named Asher.

He once served as an apprentice to Rembrandt, but later left because he had no money to continue his studies.

In Dutch painting studios in the 17th century, apprentices were often free laborers and had to pay tuition to their teachers. They were relatively hard-working and it was difficult to become a master. Many people had to wait until their teachers passed away before they could start their own business.

Fanny found Asher and said to him:

"Have you saved enough money? When will you go to study painting with your teacher, Mr. Rembrandt?"

"I don't know the specific time, maybe next year. It's not easy for me to save money. I still have 5 guilders left before I can save enough tuition to continue studying painting."

Fanny said:

"You help me buy a painting from Teacher You, which is a painting that has been painted. If this can be done, then I can consider lending you 5 Dutch guilders, what do you think?"

"Fanny, do you have that much money? You must know that my teacher's paintings are very expensive." Asher said with some doubt.

"I bought it for someone else. It's not convenient for him to buy it himself. Small paintings are the best." Fanny knew that Rembrandt's paintings were very expensive, so she could only ask about the price of small paintings.

Asher replied:
"Okay, then I'll ask him tonight. Speaking of which, I haven't seen him for a while. I hope he's not concentrating on painting."

When Rembrandt devoted himself to painting, he often painted for weeks at a time, during which he basically did not touch any mundane matters.

Asher could only pray that the teacher would not be in this state.

The next morning, Fanny took the opportunity to go out to buy bread and found Asher again.

Asher said to her:
"I went to see my teacher last night and told him about your idea of ​​buying paintings. He was a little embarrassed. He said that all the paintings he saved in the past were bought by a wealthy French businessman four months ago, and now he only has Sketch, and a dozen self-portraits, but he doesn’t sell self-portraits, and no one will buy them. What he wants is for you to place an order, and he will paint them for you later.”

Fanny also felt a little disappointed after hearing this, and didn't know what to do for a while.

When she returned to her maid's quarters, she prayed to the God of Trade.

Soon Li Zhuo appeared in mid-air, and Fanny explained the situation to him.

After hearing this, Li Zhuo said:
"Self-portraits are also acceptable, sketches are also acceptable, as long as they are drawn by himself, everything will be fine."

Fanny was also a little surprised. She thought the sketch was just a semi-finished product. Does anyone want this kind of painting?

Although she didn't understand, she still agreed.

That night, Li Zhuo received two paintings from Fanny.

It's all sketches.

But it was Rembrandt who learned that someone wanted to buy his self-portrait. This had never happened before. He was also very surprised, so he asked Asher who wanted to buy his painting.

Asher told the truth that Rembrandt was not happy when he learned that someone wanted to buy his paintings through the maid, and he refused on the spot:
"I can't sell my self-portrait to a maid, nor can I sell her the paintings I worked so hard on. It would affect my reputation. If that gentleman appreciates my paintings, he is welcome to come to the studio. order."

Asher was helpless. He knew that this was the result, but he did not dare to lie to the teacher.

He sighed and had to say:

"I understand, teacher, I will tell her when I get back."

Asher turned to leave. Rembrandt had just finished painting a large painting in the past two days. He felt relaxed and in a good mood, and suddenly said:

"When will you come back and continue to learn painting? Come and help me. You are more careful and better than some of them."

Asher smiled bitterly:

"...I'm saving money. If it works this time, the maid will lend me 5 guilders, so I can probably come back tomorrow. Teacher, I need to wait a little longer now."

Now Rembrandt is just 30 years old. He is now both wealthy and stingy. He will not exempt students from tuition fees, but Asher is indeed obedient and useful.

He thought for a while and said, "Well, I can't sell paintings to this maid, but I can give her my old sketches. No one will buy these sketches anyway, so it's okay to give them to her. I hope she can lend them to her." Your money, you come with me.”

He went back to the studio again, and when he came out, he had two small sketches in his hand.

One of them is a painting by Rembrandt of an old farmer wearing a long felt hat and holding a cane.

The other one is a copy of the sketch of "The Rider", a painting he painted a few years ago. Both sketches are signed with Rembrandt's name and the year. Of course, the signature is very sloppy, and Asher can see it at a glance. This was just signed by Rembrandt.

At this moment, these two paintings were in Li Zhuo's hands, and he was certain that they were genuine works by Rembrandt.

In fact, quite a few of Rembrandt's paintings were made by his apprentices. He would sign his name and then sell them as his own works.

In the 20s, Dutch art experts evaluated that about half of the works signed with Rembrandt's name were authentic, and the other half were made by his students.

Authentic paintings by Rembrandt are very valuable, even incredibly valuable.

His "Portrait of the Newlywed Suman Couple" sold for US$1.8 million, approximately 12.6 billion yuan.

Rembrandt left a total of more than 100 self-portraits in his life, and the price of any one of them can reach 1450 million euros, about 1.13 million yuan.

But are his sketches worth anything?Li Zhuo felt a little unsure.

No matter, for such an awesome painter, I guess his sketches are valuable.

Li Zhuo said to Fanny:
"Then that's it, I'm leaving."

He then shook his finger slightly, making an erasing motion, and Fanny sat on the edge of the bed with blank eyes, forgetting that Li Zhuo had ever been here.

She just remembered that she made a fortune from tulips, enough for her to take care of her family, and enough for her to stop working as a maid, but she couldn't remember how it came about.

Li Zhuo then tore open the curtain of history and returned to the modern world again.

It was as if nothing had ever happened.

The incense burner still looks lifeless, and the yin and yang fish are also inlaid on its side walls.

Li Zhuo wiped it clean and then put it back into the sea of ​​consciousness.

The next morning, he took his private jet and flew to Bangkok.

In Bangkok, he went to the Mandarin Oriental Apartment first. After Zheng Kun came over, he went to the bedroom and took out the two sketches.

Zheng Kun took it over to look at the style first, frowned and said:

"Why is it a sketch? It's a Western classical painting. The techniques of classical painting have been thoroughly studied. This kind of sketch has no value, right? But the paintings are quite good. Well, there is one imitation of the famous painting "The Rider", eh~... …”

He looked at the signature carefully.

Then his eyes became brighter:

"Oh my God, it turned out to be a sketch signed by the great painter Rembrandt. It seems that this "Equestrian" sketch is one of a group of sketches drawn by Rembrandt. He picked out the sketch he was most satisfied with and painted it. It was turned into an oil painting, and I didn’t care about this one anymore.”

He is very excited:

"Not bad, it's really a good thing. As long as it can be proven that it was painted by Rembrandt himself, even if it is a sketch, it will be very valuable."

He later explained:

"Rembrandt is the leader of a very famous Dutch school in the history of painting. He can be said to be the greatest painter in the Netherlands in the 17th century. His works are priceless. For example, his masterpiece "Night Watch" is a masterpiece among classical paintings. It is estimated It is at least over 1 million US dollars, but these classic classical paintings are basically collected by museums and cannot be auctioned."

"I won't talk about other paintings, let's just talk about the original copy of "The Rider". This oil painting was first collected by King George IV of England, and later by Baron Henri de Rothschild of France. It was listed as a French It is a national treasure and is forbidden to go abroad. Later, the Louvre could not come up with enough money to buy it, so the Dutch government, the Rembrandt Society and the Rijksmuseum jointly funded the painting for 1.75 million euros, which is equivalent to a price of nearly 2 million US dollars. Bought back the Netherlands..."

Li Zhuo was also shocked when he heard that the original portrait of this fat-looking militiaman was so valuable...

(End of this chapter)