Thursday, 28 May 2015

After Boucher, probably recently though

At Clars, American auction house from Oakland, they sell on 31 May 2015 an "attributed to François Boucher" Diana with Cherubs, estimated at $8,000 to $12,000.

It's a nice painting, but not Boucher-quality. It is a copy with variations after Boucher though: the source for the cherubs is his "Birth of Venus" above, from the Wallace Collection.

And the source for the Diana is the "Diana and Callisto" from the Nelson-Atkins Museum.

Taken all together, I would have serious doubts about the age of this painting which may well be fairly recent (in an old frame though!). UPDATE: sold for $4,500, way below the estimate but still too much in my opinion. Give the buyer the feeling he has gotten a bargain (just above half the estimate!) and still get more money than it's worth, that's smart business I guess.

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