Monday, 8 June 2015

"Follower of Isenbrandt" looks more like a follower of Mantegna

Lavoissiere-Guielhers, French auction house from Larochelle, sells on 13 June 2015 a "Follower of Adriaen Isenbrandt" head of Christ, a 36 by 31 cm oil on panel estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 Euro.

I don't see a lot of Isenbrandt in it though. The realism and directness, without having the full frontal approach of Bouts, gives it a slightly more modern look, away from Early Netherlandish painting and closer to the Renaissance. Searching for comparable examples, I came across some paintings by Andrea Mantegna, probably the most Flemish of the Italian painters of his time anyway. His Christ the Redeemer from 1493 has a similar look, although it is more melancholic while the one for sale is unusually confrontational in the view it directs at the viewer.

Obviously, the one for sale is clearly inferior to Mantegna (or Antonello da Messina or whichever Italian name one may drop here), but it still is a good painting, which needs some care but should be worth more than the estimate. If it is Flemish, it would be interesting to locate it better in space and time, as a link between the Early Netherlandish paintings and the Renaissance.

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