Saturday 28 March 2015
Francken, Ecce Homo
At Lamas Bolanos, a Spanish auction house, they sell an Ecce Homo described as Flemish School, 17th century. It is a (copy after) Frans Francken the Elder. Estimated at 800 Euro, this seems rather cheap for what it is, a nice sized (64 by 51 cm) typical Flemish work, reminiscent of Bosch and Brueghel in the faces (compared with e.g. the Christ Carrying the Cross by Bosch in the Ghent Museum). It has some serious damage though, so it would cost you a bit more to restore it before it was ready to adorn your walls.
Question: is it the same painting that was sold at Van Ham in 2013 as Frans Francken the Younger for 2,000 Euro? It has nearly the same dimensions, a similar crack through the middle, and the same composition and colours (if you consider the one now for sale as a cleaned copy of the Van Ham one). If it is the same, then the cleaning revealed a better painted picture (good enough for Francken II?), but some unexpected condition issues, like the major scratch on the left side.
But it probably is a different picture, as it seems that the crack on the Van Ham panel starts at about the same place, but is situated more to the left at the bottom (left of the leg instead of through the leg). Which means that we have an (IMO) better painted picture for a considerably lower price.
Another argument for it being a very similar but nevertheless different painting is the above, with again nearly the same size: in 2012, Hampel sold the above as "Circle of Ambrosius Francken I" with an estimate of 40,000 to 50,000 Euro(!), but it failed to sell. It looks to be a better painting, and in better condition, so we shouldn't take that estimate as an indication of the potential worth of the Bolano one though.
A slightly different version with a more lively background was sold at Zeller in 2007. Attributed to a Follower of Frans Francken II, it was estimated at 2,800 Euro. Other versions (attributed to Francken II or a follower) were for sale at Tajan in 2014 (estimate 3,000 to 4,000 Euro, not sold) and at Duran Madrid in 2013 (sold for 1,800 Euro)
UPDATE: again for sale at Bolano, but now estimated at only 220 Euro, with the same description. This time it"s really a bargain!
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