Francesco di Girolamo da Santacroce

Attributed to Francesco di Girolamo da Santacroce, sixteenth century Italian painter. Style seems right, though not his best work (and dirty!). Prize: bids start at nearly 6,000 Euro and estimated for at least 8,000 Euro, is probably a bit much, but this one painting is buried in an auction of mainly Eastern European and more recent paintings tomorrow in Hungary, and probably deserves a different audience as well. Kieselbach Auctions.

Prediction; if it sells, it will be for close to the minimum price, I can't see this making the minimal estimate of 8,000 Euro though.

Added 22 December 2014

 

At Freeman's Auctions I found the following lot from 2012. Clearly the same picture with an additional figure, but painted a lot worse (possibly due to poor restorations) and in poorer condition.  This one eventually sold for some 3,500 Euro, so way below the estimate for the Kisselbach version, but that one was a lot nicer and more value for money of course. I haven't found the result of the Kisselbach auction though.

Added 4 January 2014

Sold at Christie's in 2003 as by a Follower of Girolamo da Santacroce.  Again the same model and style, this time it made 10,000 Euro. Clearly a nicer example than the Freeman's copy, with the background details and the overall condition of the picture. The Kieselbach version still seems to be the best though, even though it lacks the figure on the right (which is very badly executed in both other versions anyway). Might be a nice subject for a small study, this painting in all its versions, and what the original would look like.