Darwin portrait found in thrift store goes on sale on eBay

A library and information science student finds a 19th century original art drawing in a thrift-store and believes it may be a portrait of English naturalist, Charles Darwin

West Palm Beach, FL – When Luis Aponte went thrift-store shopping for some inexpensive artwork for his one-bedroom flat, he never imagined finding a valuable art treasure. But that is exactly what happened.

Aponte, a graduate student at the University of South Florida, was drawn to an original portrait entitled “Pencil and Charcoal Drawing of Two Elderly Jewish Men.” The sales tag noted that the 14” x 17” drawing was done by G. Rühm. Aponte says he was captivated by the drawing, “The quality of this portrait has an ‘old soul’ feeling to it and the details are exquisite.”

The portrait impressed him so strongly that he put the research skills he is developing as a library and information science student to work. Through his research, Aponte found similarities to old photographs of English naturalist and writer, Charles Darwin. His next step was to determine more about the artist. Just who was G. Rühm and when did he live? Was he a contemporary of Darwin?

Charles Darwin developed the revolutionary theory of evolution through natural selection. The scientist is buried among Britain’s greatest scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking at Westminster Abbey in London, England. 

With his suspicion that he had discovered a likeness of the scientist, Aponte turned to the Chicago Appraisers Association for a professional assessment. After an in-depth evaluation, CAA identified the artist as George Rohm (German circa 1885), who was actively creating art during the latter years of Darwin’s life. Charles Darwin died on April 19, 1882.

With this information in hand, CAA appraised the drawing with a total resale value of $2,500, more than 20 times the value of Aponte’s initial investment of $120.

Whether or not this drawing is the final portrait of the celebrated English naturalist remains a mystery. Arlyn Arroyo, a paint artist in Greenacres, FL, feels strongly that this is indeed Darwin, “When I first saw these two pictures without reading any information on it, I thought it was a self-portrait of the artist. By looking at the face of both pictures, I believe it is indeed a portrait of Darwin. It reminds me of the self-portraits of Leonardo da Vinci.”

Aponte believes that the artwork belongs in the hands of a private collector in England or Germany so that it will be maintained for posterity. To achieve that, he is selling the original charcoal portrait on eBay’s UK-based website. Proceeds from the sale will be used to offset his graduate study expenses.