A Remarkable Rediscovery: Salvador Dalí’s Vecchio Sultano

As a paintings specialist at Cheffins, few moments are as thrilling as uncovering a genuine rediscovery, and this is exactly what we have in Vecchio Sultano, an original work by Salvador Dalí that came to light during a Cambridge house clearance. Purchased by a local art collector for just £150, the piece has since been authenticated by the renowned Dalí expert, Nicolas Descharnes, and will now be offered in our Art & Design Sale on 23rd October with an estimate of £20,000–£30,000.

When I first saw the painting, I was immediately struck by its intensity and its unmistakable Dalínian blend of dreamlike strangeness and exquisite technical control. Measuring 38 x 29cm and executed in watercolour and felt tip, the work illustrates a scene from The Arabian Nights, or The One Thousand and One Nights, which was a project that speaks to one of the lesser known, but deeply personal, chapters in Dalí’s career.

Vecchio Sultano, an original work by Salvador Dalí

In 1963, Dalí’s patrons, Giuseppe and Mara Albaretto, commissioned him to create a series of book illustrations for the Italian publisher Rizzoli. After completing his celebrated Biblia Sacra suite, Dalí persuaded the couple that his next project should be The 1001 Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folktales whose sensuality, splendour and mysticism perfectly matched his own imaginative world. Dalí, ever the self-mythologiser, even claimed Moorish ancestry, describing himself as descended from the Arabs who conquered Spain in 711 CE. He saw in these stories not only an opportunity for artistic invention, but a reflection of his own carefully constructed identity.

Although the commission was intended to include 500 illustrations, only 100 were completed before the project was abandoned. Of these, 50 remained with the Albarettos and later passed to their daughter, Cristina, Dalí’s goddaughter; the other 50 went to Rizzoli, where many were lost or damaged. It is believed that Vecchio Sultano was among the Rizzoli share, making its survival all the more extraordinary. The suite would not be published until 2014, decades after Dalí’s death, adding to the mystique surrounding these rare works.

To encounter a painting of this calibre and history emerging unexpectedly from a house clearance is astonishing. The fact that it had previously lost its attribution, only to be rediscovered and confirmed as a genuine Dalí, makes this a particularly important moment for the art market and also for Dalí scholarship.

Handling this work has been both a privilege and a delight. It’s a testament not only to Dalí’s boundless imagination but also to the power of rediscovery and a reminder that masterpieces can still, on occasion, surface where we least expect them.

To view the catalogue entry for Vecchio Sultano, please click here