Dutch treat: a sleeper gift for the 100th post!

As this is my 100th blog post, I thought I'ld make my regular readers happy with my (in my opinion) most important sleeper discovery so far.

At Giafferi, in Paris, they sell on 3 April 2015 a "Dutch School, 17th century" "Portrait of a young woman with a pair of gloves", measuring 114 by 79 cm and estimated at 6,000 to 8,000 Euro.

I'm pretty certain (though obviously this is opinion, not a guaranteed expert report) that it is in fact a typical portrait by Ferdinand Bol (1616-1680), one of the most talented and sought-after pupils of Rembrandt.

The sitter is not the most charming, which at first may give the impression that the painting isn't that good. But in fact it looks to be perfect in even the smallest details, with the hands painted brilliantly, the textures of the clothes, jewellery, chair all life-like, and the face as individual as one could wish for. Whether it is by Bol or not, it is the best "Dutch School" portrait I have seen for that kind of money in recent months, and should fetch at least 25,000 Euro (I wouldn't be surprised, if it is as good as it looks to be, to see it in a big auction soon with an estimate of some 50,000 Euro). These kind of paintings rarely turn up, and to get it at 6,000 Euro would be a real bargain.

UPDATE: in what is a major reality check for this blog, the painting was not sold. Apparently I was the only one convinced that this was a good work by a known artist, and not some work by a follower of these... I'll try to find a better sleeper for my 200th post, and keep an eye out to see if this one resurfaces elsewhere or with a different valuation.

You can compare this painting with the "A lady with a fan" in the National Gallery. Note that the portrait for sale, apart from the two gloves, also has a fan in her hand. Both sitters have nearly the same necklace-pendant, and the same hairdo. This sitter also isn't the most striking beauty, but has character and individuality.

Another comparable portrait is the "Portrait of a woman" in the Met. Same hairdo, same kind of broche, same type of sitter.

Now, Bol wasn't the only one to paint this type of portrait, one can find similar works by Herkules Sanders, Frans Hals even, and a number of good Dutch School examples. But to me, this looks too much like Ferdinand Bol to not attribute it to him, as far as that can be determined from an online picture. If someone here sees it in the flesh, so to speak, and would like to give their comments on it, I'ld be grateful!

Second thoughts

Between writing this post and publishing it, I tried to look into this a little more, and I'm not so sure any more. I'm very sure that this is a very good painting, by a highly accomplished Dutch portraitist. But without seeing the painting myself, I don't think I can confidently place it with Ferdinand Bol and not with e.g. Johannes Verspronck, who made quite a few similar paintings (especially the bottom one is really good and comparable). Versproncks paintings seem a bit more "Flemish", full-blooded, than the quite restrained Bol paintings, which fits more closely with the one for sale.

And then there is someone like Bartholomeus Van der Helst, whose work is often quite different from the portrait for sale (and often simply worse), but who was quite capable of producing something like this. The second example above sold for 350,000 Euro at Christie's in 2010, so it's not as if the painting is automatically worthless (well, less than 10,000 Euro or so) if it isn't by Bol and doesn't feature a handsome young woman (a good Verspronck doesn't come cheap either).

Whoever buys this work will probably need to do some good research, comparing not just the subject type but actual painting styles, before a definitive attribution can be reached (if ever). I just would love to know the eventual conclusion!

On the other hand, this painting may be attributed to Ferdinand Bol by the auction house Clars and is only half as expensive, but it is miles further away from a real Bol than the one I present here. It looks more French than Dutch to me.