The small oil on canvas is only one of a few that is known to be painted during Chopin’s lifetime.
“The painting is an original work created in the 1840s and is one of the few portraits of Fryderyk Chopin made during his lifetime.”
The artist who painted it is not known. The canvas is simply signed Alfred followed by the word Pinxit, Latin for ‘painted by.’
The painting will be of great interest to Chopin scholars as it shows the pianist in a naturalistic, un-glamorized, form.
The current owner, a 30-year-old man named Maciej, bought it from his uncle who himself bought it 28 years ago at an antique market in a small town near Lublin in eastern Poland.
