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Cape Family's Painting May Be Worth $500,000

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Jul 23, 2008 9:42 am US/Eastern

Cape Family's Painting May Be Worth $500,000

DENNIS (WBZ) ― A painting owned for generations by a Cape Cod family could now bring them up to $500,000 at auction.

The painting from 1867 shows three people stacking hay as the sun sets behind them, but the frame had slipped over the artist's signature.

The family took it to an appraisal event at Eldred's, an East Dennis auction gallery, and learned the piece was "Haying on the Marsh" by Martin Johnson Heade.

An Eldred's spokesperson said the family was surprised they had such a valuable painting.

Heade was one of the founders of a school of art called luminism which focused on capturing the effects of light on the landscape and hiding visible brushstrokes.

Eldred's won't identify the family at this point. The auction is scheduled for July 30 and August 1.

The painting is expected to sell for between $300,000 and $500,000.  Several of Heade's paintings have sold for more than $1 million.

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