Friday 3 April 2015

Copy of Savoldo


At Auxois Bourgogne, they sell an "Italian School, 17th century" flute player, estimated at 500 to 700 Euro. It's one of those typical auction paintings, on the one hand poorly painted, but on the other hand it has something that makes you look twice. On a lucky day, it is a good painting in a bad condition and with a way too low estimate. On most days, it is a poor copy of a good painting, with a rather elevated estimate. This, of course, is just one of most days...

It is a partial and slightly adjusted copy of "The Flute Player" by Girolamo Savoldo, an Italian painter of the first half of the 16th century. The original, which is a really good painting, is kept in the Pinacoteca in Brescia. And thus, by virtue of a poor painting, I have come across a very nice painting by a painter I wasn't aware of. 

UPDATE: surprisingly, the same painting is now for sale at Cambi (Italy, 4 May 2016) with an estimate of 800 to 1,200 Euro (it has been cleaned, I think, but as expected hasn't really improved otherwise). It is now described as "Lombard School, 17th century", still no mention of Savoldo though!

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