Painting by renowned Kiwi artist found in staircase of Auckland home to go under the hammer

May 9, 2021

The artwork was found on the wall of a staircase in Parnell.

A artwork by one of New Zealand's most recognised master painters Michael Smither is about to go under the hammer, but not in the way you may think.

The painting sits three storeys tall in the stairwell of a home in Auckland's Parnell. The current home owners were given quite the shock when they first went to view the house two decades ago.

“I had no idea it was here,” said homeowner Richard Giles.

The painting is said to have taken Smither two and a half thousand hours to finish over a span of ten years. The artist was friends with the previous owners.

“He would come here and spend a week or weekends painting. It was a period of a lot of fun for painters," Giles said.

Smither's art can fetch high prices, but the pricing of this particular piece may be tricky.

“It's a very difficult piece to value, the figure of a million dollars has been thrown around ... but I couldn't say,” said Giles.

The artwork is part of a 1970s addition to the four-bedroom Parnell bungalow.

Unfortunately, art connoisseurs wanting to purchase the piece would have to buy the whole house, valued at more than $4 million dollars.

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