Friday, 19 June 2015

"Flemish School" is copy after Palma Vecchio

Nabécor, auction house in Nancy, France, sells on 27 June 2015 a "17th century Flemish School" Saint Jerome, oil on copper of 29 by 22 cm, estimated at 800 Euro.

As is common with poorly painted works with a good composition, it is a copy of a much better work, in this case a late 16th century Saint Jerome by Palma Vecchio. Whether the copy is Flemish or Italian is hard to tell, painting on copper usually points more to Flanders but it is far from certain, as evidenced here: the original (or at least one version of it) is also painted on copper!

The work has been thge subject of multiple engravings as well, I know of versions by Justus Sadeler, Jan Eillarts and Raffaello Guidi. So this was a well-known painting in its day, with many copies floating around. It's hard to tell from the pictures how good or bad this copy is, so I can't reasonably guess whether the estimate is right or not. I certainly wouldn't pay more for it without seeing it in reality, in the pictures it looks pretty weak.

UPDATE: apparently not sold, for sale again on 12 September 2015 at the same auction house with the same estimate.

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