Artifact Reading Inspector

Chapter 36: Private Auction in the U.S. (2)

Rembrandt was called the artist of light, magician of light, or the magician of light and darkness because of the strong contrasts.

It would give a dramatic effect to the painting by contrasting the bright parts with the dark parts in a simple structure. At first glance, the painting will look dark but, if you keep looking, you will find yourself being sucked into it.

The painting revealed by the auctioneer also had a dark background while the presence of the young and beautiful lady, that was focused on looking somewhere, was being highlighted. It was as if a ray of sunlight entered a dark stone room.

“Ahh…”

Small exclamations rippled through the people.

“Can you see it? This beautiful lady. Her gaze must have been toward the artist, Rembrandt. This lovely gaze… who was this young woman? His wife Saskia in her youthful days? Geertjie? Or Hendrickje?”

Geertjie and Hendrickje were Rembrandt’s maids. Rembrandt had relationships with them after his wife passed away.

After her death, Rembrandt lived a very hard life because of financial problems, and his reputation dropped even more after his relationship with his maids was revealed. Moreover, Hendrickje gave birth to Rembrandt’s daughter.

“What do you think?”

Eunhae whispered tensely. Haejin raised his hand, implying he needed a moment.

“Hmm…”

Haejin wasn’t very far from the painting, but he wasn’t very close, either. The problem was that he could use the magic only once. If he used the magic now and failed to get that painting, he would have to give up on all the three remaining paintings.

Additionally, he couldn’t see the painting at such a distance, so he had to give up looking into its past with magic.

The only magic he could use was the magnifying…

However, casting that magic would take five minutes, which was just enough time to appraise one painting, so the auction would be over in the meantime.

The important thing was whether this painting looked troublesome enough to use magic.

“Structure, color, touch of brush and texture… I can only say it was drawn by Rembrandt.”

Haejin gave up. If this was real, that would be an appropriate appraisal, but if it was fake… that was an impressive technique.

Why was he so doubting its authenticity? Like all the other famous artist, Rembrandt had many fakes.

After he died, many fakes kept coming up and, by 1860, 15,000 collectors and art organizations in America and Europe believed that they owned real Rembrandt paintings.

In the end, the Netherlands couldn’t tolerate the enormous number of fakes and started a research project on Rembrandt.

That project lasted 42 years and ended in 2011. It categorized the paintings into reals, fakes and unknowns.

It was surprising that there were 162 paintings of which they couldn’t determine the authenticity. They used almost all scientific methods of the time and still failed, you can imagine the quality of those paintings.

“Good.”

Eunhae was satisfied with it. She smiled and slightly nodded. The auctioneer finished explaining and announced the start of the auction.

“Who will win this beautiful lady today? I will start today’s first auction with an excited heart. The opening bid is a million dollars, and the price rises by fifty thousand with every call.”

That was the glory of private auction exclusively for rich people. The opening bid was a million dollars…

However, Haejin was the only one to think like this. No one else seemed to think it was expensive.

They all started to raise their paddles the moment the auctioneer finished talking.

The price went over two million dollars in less than 30 seconds. Eunhae only then started to raise her paddle. Yaerin looked over her and raised her paddle.

“The beautiful ladies over there have bid five million dollars. From now on, the price rises by a hundred thousand. The gentleman there called five million and a hundred thousand.”

As it was a private auction, it was different from Korea Auction’s tense bidding. It was relaxed but quite interesting to watch. However, that was only because Haejin was watching as a bystander. He looked at Eunhae who looked very serious.

“Ahu… I won’t be able to get it…”

No matter how many times she raised her paddle, others followed her, so she was devastated.

The price soared up and went over eight million. Eunhae finally gave up. She bit her lips and elegantly put her paddle on her knees.

“Nine million and two hundred thousand dollars. Is there more? If there isn’t, the owner of this beautiful lady is determined.”

The first Rembrandt painting was finally sold. However, the winner really upset Eunhae. It was none other than Yaerin.

She smiled at Eunhae victoriously as if announcing ‘I have won today’.’

The hosts wanted to elevate the mood even more, so they offered wine to the participators. Haejin didn’t know much about wine, to him it was just alcohol that was less bitter than soju, but Eunhae was distinguishing her anger with the wine.

“Yuseong seems to be richer than Hwajin?”

Eunhae turned angry because of Haejin’s teasing.

“No! It’s not that Yuseong is richer than us. She is the CEO with more than thirty resorts in Korea. I only have one gallery and can spend the money on paintings depending on this year’s budget, so, of course, she can spend more than me.”

“Wow… more than thirty resorts? That’s awesome…”

Eunhae spoke as if it was unfair, but Haejin said something else. She was offended and turned away from him.

“If you like that so much, go and ask her out.”

“Ask her out? We are not of the same class. Anyway, the auction is not over yet. We can choose among the remaining three.”

“You said this was real. They also say that at least one out of the four or five, there is a fake… then the risk of picking a fake has gone up.”

“We can buy a real one among the remaining, but how did you buy the painting till now? You can’t bet if you don’t have enough money…”

Not having enough money was offensive to Eunhae as she was from corporate group owner family.

She glared at Haejin.

“Before my grandfather died, at least two of those paintings were ours. Getting one became hard after many millionaires appeared in China and he passed away… and she clearly has gone too far today. When she gets home, she will be scolded by her grandfather a lot and will be grounded at least for a month.”

“Oh… okay, I get it.”

Eunhae was about to get mad and yell if Haejin teased her more, so he just let that go.

However, a young white man sitting next to Eunhae talked to her. He had distinctive red and curly hair. Haejin didn’t like his eyes.

“One has gone, so you should do better from now.”

“Oh, I should. I saw you also feel bad about not being able to buy it…”

“Well, I actually didn’t really like that painting. I couldn’t see Rembrandt’s gloomy mood in it. That’s how Rembrandt is. If you keep looking, it somehow makes you feel gloomy… he must have suffered from depression. I’m sure. However, the painting we just saw didn’t have that feeling. It is likely a fake. In that perspective, I should celebrate you for losing that painting.”

He bloated with a sly face. He looked like someone who studied paintings for a long time. Eunhae found him cheesy, she just smiled awkwardly and waved her hands.

“Oh, I wish you were right. Anyway, I hope you get the next painting.”

“Haha, ladies first. I hope you get a good painting first. I can always get a painting if I want.”

He took out his business card and offered it to Eunhae. Its color was gold, he was probably rich.

“Oh… you are giving me your business card…”

“I am the director of Face Note. You know Face Note, right? Haha, I shouldn’t have bothered to ask. You must, just like everyone else… could you give me the honor to have dinner with you?”

“I’m sorry, but I would like to concentrate on the paintings now.”

Eunhae’s polite refusal made his face harden a little.

“I see. Is it because of the man next to you? Is he your boyfriend?”

“He’s my appraiser.”

“Aha… my, my… did he not realize that the painting we just saw is real? That’s a shame.”

Haejin wondered if he should keep hearing that nonsense, but the auctioneer resumed.

“You must have felt sorry to let that beautiful lady go. But please, don’t be too sad. There is still one more painting from Rembrandt, the magician of light and darkness.”

He uncovered one of the three remaining paintings.

“Oh…”

The crowd exclaimed again. It was a painting of a middle-aged Rembrandt reading a book to teach a little boy.

Rembrandt looked kind, and the boy had a faint smile as if he was enjoying the study. It had Rembrandt’s unique dark background and the light was on their faces and on the book as if there was a candle in front of them.

“Can you see it? Who is the mature Rembrandt teaching? Is he Titus, Rembrandt’s only remaining child? Teaching a child requires a lot of patience, but Rembrandt seems to overcome it with pleasure. It is magnificent. Perfect. Well, who will become the owner of this painting?”

The auctioneer looked around. He felt that there was no one who wouldn’t want this painting. His voice was a little higher as he spoke again.

“Good. I cannot make you wait any longer. The opening big is a million dollars as before, and the price rises by fifty thousand dollars with every bid. The auction starts now.”

Haejin then heard Eunhae’s tense voice once again.

“How is it?”

She planned to get that painting no matter what. Haejin frowned hard and stared at the painting.

Rembrandt’s face was the same with his other self-portraits that Haejin had seen. The wrinkles near his bulged eyes, slack cheeks, bold forehead and curly hair that resembled those of a poodle…

However, Haejin felt something. He couldn’t be sucked into the painting like before. It was clearly Rembrandt’s usual structure while the color and texture were similar…

In the end, Haejin dipped his finger into the wine and used magic. A minute later…

“How is it?!”

Eunhae was frustrated by Haejin who didn’t say anything. She poked his side with her paddle. Haejin then took that paddle from her and put it on his laps.

“Huh?”

Eunhae was puzzled. Haejin shook his head. At the moment, the price was going over nine million and two hundred thousand dollars, which was Yaerin’s winning bid. The white man, with curly hair next to Eunhae, was winking at her as he raised his paddle.