Early European Painting of America Is Sold to Rijksmuseum – The Rijksmuseum has acquired one of the earliest known depictions of America painted in the history of Western art, Jan Mostaert’s “Discovery of America.” The work, painted some time between 1525 and 1540, was among 202 paintings that were returned to Marei von Saher, the daughter-in-law of Jacques Goudstikker, a Jewish Dutch art dealer between the wars whose collection was looted by the Nazis.
The painting was being offered at the European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht in March, with an asking price of $14 million.