Every once in awhile you'll hear a story about a painting found in an attic or closet that turned out to be worth millions of dollars. You wonder to yourself, how could someone have missed it! Well, it turns out another million dollar masterpiece was hiding in a closet in Des Moines.

Robert Warren, the executive director of Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines, was searching for some civil war flags several years ago. What he found instead, buried in a closet, was a painting by artist Otto Van Veen. The painting 'Apollo and Venus' was painted in the late 1500's. Van Veen's works are featured in every major art gallery in the world, and his works have sold for between $4 million and $17 million.

 

A conservator in Chicago helped restore the painting. Its exact value is not known. Warren says there are no plans to sell the work. It will remain at Hoyt Sherman Place as part of their permanent display.

 

[via KCRG, KCCI]

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