Prince Rupert Portrait Reattributed to Peter Lely

A portrait of Prince Rupert, the 17th-century English commander and first governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, has been reattributed from the studio of Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck to the hand of renowned Dutch painter Peter Lely, according to experts at Heffel Fine Art Auction House in Canada. The oil-on-canvas work, estimated to date from around 1665, depicts Rupert in a heavy coat and armored breastplate, gripping a baton in one hand and resting the other on a sword hilt, with a chaotic battle scene in the background. It is set for auction on May 21 in Toronto as the sole piece from the Hudson's Bay Company's former collection.

Heffel acquired the painting last year amid the retailer's financial collapse. Hudson's Bay, Canada's oldest company founded in 1670 as a fur-trading enterprise, closed its 80 department stores and faced $1.1 billion in debt. To address this, the company consigned its collection of 4,400 artworks and artifacts to Heffel for sale through a November live auction and subsequent online rounds. Initially cataloged by Hudson's Bay as a studio production of van Dyck, known for his historical and mythological portraits, the piece carried an estimate of...