German police have appealed for information from the public after two 17th century paintings were discovered in a skip at a highway rest stop.
Police said a 64-year-old man found the oil paintings at the rest stop near Ohrenbach in central Germany last month. He later handed them in to police in the western city of Cologne.
An initial assessment by an art expert concluded the two framed paintings were originals, police said.
One is a self-portrait by Pietro Bellotti (1625-1700) showing the Italian artist smiling and dating to 1665. The other is a portrait of a boy by the Dutch artist Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678), date unknown.
Hoogstraten was a student of Rembrandt in Amsterdam and best known for his experiments with perspective, according to London’s National Gallery.
He was born in Dordrecht but also worked in the Hague, Vienna, Rome and London. His treatise, Introduction to the High School of the Art of Painting, published after his death, is regarded as a valuable insight into Rembrandt’s views on painting.
Less is known about Bellotti, but according to Switzerland’s Galleria Canesso he worked for prominent families in Venice, as well as Ferdinand Maria, the Elector of Bavaria, and for the governor of Milan.