They Thought This Painting Was Anonymous. Then They Looked Closer.
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A forgotten 17th-century painting sitting in museum storage has been reattributed to pioneering Flemish artist Clara Peeters—and the story says a lot about who gets remembered in art history.
There is something about the idea of a masterpiece hiding in plain sight.
Not buried underground. Not lost in a private collection. Not discovered behind a wall.
Just sitting in a museum storage room.
That is essentially what happened with Still Life with Small Game and Grapes on a Gilded Tazza, a painting created around 1620 that has been held by Norway's National Museum in Oslo for generations. For years, however, nobody could confidently say who painted it.
Now, after years of research, the painting has been officially attributed to Clara Peeters, one of the important pioneers of early European still-life painting.
And suddenly, a painting that had effectively become "anonymous" has a name again.
From Brueghel to Anonymous
The painting originally had a rather impressive pedigree. It was once attributed to Ambrosius Brueghel, a member of the famous Flemish Brueghel artistic family. But that attribution was later rejected, and the painting eventually became classified as the work of an unknown artist. It spent much of its life thereafter in storage.
Then, in 2022, National Museum curator Cynthia Osiecki began looking at the painting more closely while researching Clara Peeters.
The more she investigated, the more connections she found.
The wooden panel used for the painting came from a supplier associated with other works by Peeters. The arrangement of the birds, grapes and hazelnuts showed similarities to compositions known to be hers. Even the distinctive gilded dish—the tazza—resembled objects appearing in other Peeters paintings.
There was one obvious problem.
There was no signature.
But that mystery may actually have an explanation.
Peeters was known for signing her paintings, often near the lower edge. Unfortunately, the lower edge of this particular panel had suffered woodworm damage. The very place where her signature might have appeared may simply have been destroyed.
And then things became even more interesting.
Did the Artist Leave Herself a Clue?
Clara Peeters was famous for hiding tiny self-portraits inside her paintings.
She sometimes depicted herself as a miniature reflection in polished metal, glass or other shiny objects. These tiny appearances can be so subtle that viewers may completely miss them.
Researchers examining the Oslo painting noticed shapes reflected in the grapes that may resemble human figures. The evidence isn't strong enough to definitively declare that Peeters painted herself into this particular work, but it adds another intriguing piece to the puzzle.
It is almost as if the artist may have left a tiny signature without writing her name.
Why This Discovery Matters
The story isn't really just about one painting.
It's about how much of art history is still being rewritten.
Clara Peeters was working during the early 17th century, when still-life painting was developing into an important genre. Her surviving paintings demonstrate extraordinary attention to texture, reflection, light and the physical characteristics of objects. Her work can be found in major museums including the Prado, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Yet for centuries, women artists like Peeters were far more likely to be overlooked, misattributed or simply forgotten.
That is beginning to change.
The National Museum of Norway will feature the newly attributed painting in its upcoming exhibition “Woman Painter,” opening October 8, 2026. The exhibition brings together works by 19 women artists active between approximately 1550 and 1650, including Artemisia Gentileschi, Lavinia Fontana, Judith Leyster and Clara Peeters.
The timing feels particularly appropriate.
Because sometimes rediscovering an artist isn't about finding something that was physically lost.
Sometimes it means looking at something we've had all along—and finally seeing it differently.
The Bigger Lesson for Art Lovers
For me, this is one of the most fascinating things about art.
A painting can remain unchanged while our understanding of it completely transforms.
The brushstrokes are the same. The grapes are the same. The dead birds are the same. The little gilded dish is still sitting there after four centuries.
But suddenly, there is a name behind them.
And that name changes the story.
The discovery is also a reminder that museums aren't simply warehouses of finished history. They are places where history continues to be investigated, questioned and occasionally rewritten.
Somewhere in another museum storage room, there may be another "anonymous" painting waiting for somebody to look a little closer.
Maybe the next great art-world discovery isn't missing, but just waiting to be recognized.