Tuesday 10 February 2015

Master of the Prodigal Son or Michiel Coxie?


At Lemoine, a work attributed to the "Master of the Prodigal Son",  a well-known and productive master from Antwerp from around 1550, at the height of the Antwerp Mannerism. The estimate for this "Annunciation" seems rather high, at 12,000 to 18,000 Euro, but the work is interesting nevertheless. The basic composition, with a red four-poster on the right, Maria reading, a door or window in the centre, and the Angel on the left, can be found many times in many variations, going back to examples by Van der Weyden and Memling.


The painting takes many elements from the "Annunciation" by Joos van Cleve in the collection of the Met Museum, which is vastly superior of course.


The above version was sold at Bonham's in 2011 for 6,400 Euro. It was attributed to the Workshop of Michiel Coxie, and is a less refined version of the one for sale here. Many elements are nearly identical, some (like the Holy Ghost, but also the hands of the Virgin or the window in the back) are quite different though, but despite this it is unmistakeably (inspired by) the same composition.

The work for sale doesn't seem to be good enough to be by the Master of the Prodigal Son though, so the estimate is probably too high. Interesting, quite good, but not good enough. 

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