Onians’ Painting
There’s a painting in the museum, with an interesting tale.
Ernest Onians, a farmer in England made a small fortune, selling pig feed to farms. However, his passion in life wasn’t pigswill, but was collecting fine works of art. When he passed away, at the age of ninety, his heirs didn’t want the paintings he’d collected and decided to sell them. They asked an auction house, to auction the lot. They produced a catalogue of all the collection, to display the fine art.
There was a lot of interest in one of the pieces, The Sack of Carthage, by Pietro Testa. The distinguished art historian, Sir Denis Mahon, told his gallery to buy this work, whatever the cost. The bidding was fierce, and the painting was sold for ten times more, than the estimated price. Sir Denis hadn’t bought a pig in a poke. He had spotted, a menorah in the scene, which told him that it wasn’t a Testa, it was a Poussin instead - The Destruction of Jerusalem, by Nicholas Poussin (Poussin had painted it, while yet a spring chicken).
The price that was paid, was a bargain indeed. After Sir Denis had restored the painting and verified that it was Poussin’s work it was subsequently sold, for what it was worth. The family of Onians, wasn’t so pleased, to say the least – they thought that the auctioneers had made a pig’s ear of the sale - and sued them for the money they’d lost. The painting was donated to the Israel Museum by the purchasers, Sir Jacob Rothschild and the Rothschild Foundation.
From this little story there’s a lesson
to learn, it really does pay, to know one’s onions.
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