The canvas, titled Peasant Woman in front of a Farmhouse, was painted by Van Gogh in July 1885 and later stored in the attic of Billington Farm near Staffordshire.
John Holme received the work in 1929 as payment for agricultural supplies and it hung in the farmhouse before being moved to the attic after the family grew tired of displaying it.
In 1968 Luigi Grosso, working for the BBC, spotted the signature “Vincent” on a junk‑shop canvas and bought it for £45, then enlisted curator Alan Bowness to authenticate it.
The painting entered the auction market in 1970, fetching $110,000 at Sotheby’s in New York. It changed hands several times, selling for $390,000 in 1983 and $1.7 million in 2001.
In March 2020, London gallery Dickinson offered the work at TEFAF Maastricht, where a private collector acquired it for €12 million to €15 million, the highest‑priced sale at the Dutch fair up to that time.