Rare 15th-century Paris portrait recovered hours after its disappearance

A small alabaster bas-relief, probably dating from the middle of the 15th century, was returned during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday after disappearing from a private Paris collection.

The work, around thirty centimetres high and weighing several kilograms, depicts a young man seated at a table, holding a sheet of paper between his fingers. His identity remains debated, but an old inscription on the reverse is said to mention the name “François de Montcorbier”, a surname that several historians have long connected with that of the poet François Villon.

The piece belongs to Jeanne de Varenne, a patron and private collector known for her interest in late-medieval French art and works whose attribution remains disputed.

According to several people present at a private reception, a guest reportedly left with a satchel visibly weighed down and distorted by a rigid object. The disappearance was noticed shortly afterward.

The work was ultimately returned before 2 a.m., with no known intervention by the police.

Jeanne de Varenne declined to specify the circumstances of its return or the identity of the person who took the sculpture.

The incident might seem anecdotal were it not for a piece several specialists consider potentially exceptional. No authenticated portrait of François Villon made during his lifetime is known.

For now, however, the owner refuses any public expert appraisal.

“Some works have travelled enough already,” she said simply.

For connoisseurs, the matter leaves one question open above all: if the person depicted really is François de Montcorbier, who had an interest in preserving his face for nearly six centuries?