The possible suicide weapon of Van Gogh to go under the hammer

(CNN) – A pistol allegedly used by Vincent van Gogh to commit suicide in 1890 must go under the hammer at a big auction in Paris, a French auction house announced.

The 7mm revolver Lefaucheux will go on sale on June 19th and should reach € 60,000 ($ 67,000). AuctionArt, the auction house offering this artifact, has described it as "the most famous weapon in the history of art".

"Several pieces of evidence demonstrate that it must be a Van Gogh suicide pistol: it was discovered at the place where Van Gogh shot him his caliber. is identical to that of the bullet extracted from the body of the artist described by the doctor of the time.Scientific studies demonstrate that the barrel had remained in the ground since the 1890s, "said the house of auction in a press release.

He added that the pistol was a "low power" weapon, which could explain why Van Gogh did not die instantly.

The gun had already been on public display in 2012 and at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 2016, but this will be the first time that it will be auctioned.

Martin Bailey, a Van Gogh expert and author of "Starry Night: Van Gogh at the Asylum," told CNN that the weapon in question was "most likely" the weapon used by Van Gogh, but said that "we can not be certain".

"The experts believe that he has been buried for several decades, his caliber is as his doctor has told him, and he was found in one of the places where the shootings would have taken place." there is no hard evidence, "he said.

He added that he hoped the gun would be bought by a responsible owner who would "treat him with respect" and not post it as a "macabre relic".

The weapon was discovered in 1965 by a farmer in a field in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise, north of Paris, where the artist spent the last months of his life. He was in the same field where Van Gogh shot himself in the stomach in July 1890.

The farmer then gave the gun to the owners of a village inn, by whose family it is now offered for sale.

Tales of Adeline Ravoux, whose parents held the Ravoux Inn during Van Gogh's stay, detail the events of July 27, 1890, the day of the shooting. The family was used to leaving Van Gogh after breakfast to work in the surrounding fields, before returning for dinner at dusk.

But that day, Ravoux remarked, the artist did not return until after dark, around 9 pm, holding his stomach. Hearing the groans of Van Gogh, Adeline's parents went to inquire with him in his room, where they found him lying on his bed groaning loudly. When Adeline's father asked Van Gogh what was wrong, he would have said, "I tried to kill myself."

Van Gogh finally pbaded away 36 hours later, while he had been seen by doctors, who had simply dressed his wounds without being able to provide any further badistance.

This is not the only time Van Gogh has committed an act of self harm; Two years earlier, in 1888, he also cut his ear with a razor before wrapping it in a piece of paper and delivering it to a brothel he frequented in Arles.