Circle of Paul Bril

Arce, auction house in Barcelona, sells on 3 June a "Dutch School, 17th or 18th century" landscape with people, estimated at 1,200 Euro.

It looks like a poor man's version of the works of Paul Bril (1554-1626), famous and quite popular Flemish painter. Many Bril-like paintings were made during and following his life, so it is not unusual to find this. A somewhat better "Circle of Bril" sold at Christie's in 2014 for 23,750 Euro.

A similar composition to the one for sale is the above "Conversion of Paul". The two successive bridges, the colour scheme, the way your eye weaves crisscross across the canvas to explore the story and the landscape... it seems obvious that our painting is based on the works of Bril, but also that the quality of a real Bril is missing. Still, the estimate seems very low for this work.