Flight into Egypt, after Maerten de Vos

Koller, from Switzerland, sell on 16 September a "Flemish School, late 16th century" Flight into Egypt, an oil on copper estimated at 950 to 1,900 Euro.

It is a copy after an engraving by Maerten de Vos. A design for it is kept in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig, and is dated ca. 1580.

The engraving was relatively popular, and other paintings after it are known, e.g. the above which follows the original less closely, attributed to Adriaan de Weerdt and dated 1580-1590 (both images and the info come from the RKD).

Typical in copies after engravings is that every artist can choose his own colours, which makes for interesting comparisons sometimes. The one for sale now is probably doomed to remain anonymous, as the quality is adequate but not outstanding enough to point to any individual artist. The estimate seems about right, I can't see this not making 1,000 Euro. UPDATE: sold for 5,000 Swiss Francs or nearly 5,000 Euro, so way above estimate. Seems overpriced to me.

Circle of Palma Vecchio or much later?

Hargesheimer, Germany, sells on 19 September 2015 a "Venetian School, Master of the 17th/18th Century" Holy Family with the Baptist and Saint Lucy, 70 by 96 cm large and estimated at 500 Euro.

It is a very nice painting, and the only reason I can see that the estimate is so ridiculously low is that they are afraid that the work is a lot later than it looks to be.

Purely from the style, I would put it in the first half of the 16th century, somewhere close to Palma Vecchio (example pictured), and estimate it at the very least at 5,000 Euro, if not a whole lot more (if someone with a better eye for the styles of the many great Venetian painters of the period can pinpoint the painter).

Among the many holy families that are for sale, and the many Venetian-style paintings, this is one of the best I have seen apart from the really expensive ones in major auctions. Perhaps it is a copy after a painting I can't find (or which is lost), but even then it should be worth a few thousand euro's. Maybe the image hides the problems with the painting, which is according to the short description heavily repainted and still needs restoring. While I can see that it has lost some depth and colour brilliance, the problems don't seem that major.

If not Palma Vecchio, then rhe artist who seems to come closest to this work is Bonifazio Veronese (1487-1553), student of Palma Vecchio.

 The Joseph (the right side figure) in the above work from the Louvre by him has a nearly identical pose to the one on the work for sale, with the same compositorial device of putting his foot flat on the bottom of the picture. Although the same device has been used by Palma Vecchio in a Sacra Conversazione or the example given above, and probably by others.

His Holy Family from the Pinacoteca of the Vatican also has some remarkable similarities, in general and in details like the treatment of the faces or the sheep on the left.

UPDATE: sold for ... 150,000 Euro!!! 

School of the Master of the Prodigal Son

Lempertz, from Germany, sells on 23 September 2015 a "South Netherlandic Master, ca. 1520" Adoration of the Magi triptych, estimated at 8,000 to 12,000 Euro.

It is a version of a work by the Master of the Prodigal Son. There should be other copies in Warsaw and Baltimore, but the only one I could find an image of (thanks to the RKD) is this copy (probably cut down as well) from a church in Nijmegen, in the Netherlands.

The one for sale probably isn't an authograph work by the Master of the Prodigal Son, but it is a good painting and a relatively rare example of these 16th century Flemish triptychs, best known from the works of Pieter Coecke van Aalst who made some rather similar works as well. The estimate seems about right, perhaps even a bit low, but more research into the connection with the Master and his possible authorship are needed.

UPDATE: sold for 18,600 Euro, so the estimate was indeed too low.

Circle of Denys Calvaert

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 19 September 2015 an "Italo-Flemish School" mid-17th century painting of Saint Margaret and the Dragon, a small (20 by 15cm) oil on copper with an estimate of 850 Euro.

A very similar composition, same size and materials, but with a much more rudimentary painting technique, was sold as "Circle of Denys Calvaert" by Christie's in 2009, and fetched 3,000 Euro. As Denys Calvaert was the archetypical Italo-Flemish painter, the currect description is spot on.

The one for sale now shows a full-length Margaret instead of the half-length one at Christie's, which makes for a better composition (the dragon now seems like a leashed wild animal, instead of a pet like in the older one) and the painting has much more detailing (clothing, but also in the dragon), but isn't a really very good painting, and doesn't seem to be a real Calvaert. Even so, the current estimate seems very low compared to what the previous worse one fetched.

"Late16th century, Italy" turns out to be a copy after Rubens

Sabbe, from Dijon in France, sell on 20 September 2015 the artworks from a castle (the kind of sales where many great artworks resurfaced in the first half of the 20th century), a nice collection though lacking obvious highlights. Many items seem somewhat overpriced or too optimistically described.

Lot 135 is described as an Italian School, late 16th century Ecce Homo, and estimated at 2,500 to 3,000 Euro.

The image looked familiar, and some searching lead me to Francisco Pacheco, early 17th century (1564-1664) Spanish painter. The above painting was sold in Italy in 2006 as an original by Pacheco, but I'm not really convinced that the quality of the work is good enough, to put it mildly.

So, the search continued, and as so often it turned out to be a reverse copy of a well-known work, in this case a ca. 1610 "Ecce Homo" by Rubens, now in the Hermitage. Whether the copy for sale is Italian or not is hard to know, but late 16th century it certainly isn't. The estimate seems over the top for a rather mediocre copy though (although at least in the torso of Christ, it stays much closer to the original than the "Pacheco" version does).

By the way, Lot 11 of the same auction, described tentatively as "Diana and Actaeon?", actually depicts Diana and Endymion. A quite nice picture and better value for money than the similarly-priced Ecce Homo at an estimated 2,500 to 2,800 Euro.

Third time's a charm for this Teniers?

I blogged in March 2015 on a painting which had been sold in January 2015 at Vanderkindere (Brussels) as "Attributed to Cornelis de Vos" for 5,800 Euro, and was offered at Mercier (France) two months later as a "David II Teniers" with an estimate of 50,000 to 60,000 Euro, which was way too much in my opinion.

Apparently it didn't sell at the time, as it is now for sale at Köller, Switzerland, on 18 September 2015, again as a David II Teniers but with an estimate of 25,000 to 35,000 Swiss Francs, or about half the previous estimate (but still a nice profit). The reasons for the new attribution are basically the same as at the Mercier auction (comparison to the Fondation Custodia portraits), but with (as far as I remember) the added argument that the sitter (or at least her husband) was known to be friends or associated with David II Teniers, and with some further provenance. None of the provenance has any sort of attribution though (the inventory of the sitter's will indicates portraits of her and her husband, but no indication who made them or whether this portrait is the same or not).

The monogram (upper left corner, pictured) is now being described as a "DT F" monogram signature, which (again speaking from memory) wasn't mentioned yet at the Mercier sale, and which looks to me a bit as wishful thinking or circular reasoning; I certainly can't see a "DT" in it. The "F" is quite clear, but the first could be nearly everything. The two examples I found of Teniers monograms were a big, round D with a small T inside.

Strangely, and a bit disappointingly, the provenance only lists a 1936 and 1942 entry, and (unlike other entries in that Köller catalogue) omits the two recent auctions, stating instead that it was "Kürzlich in einer Privatsammlung entdeckt" or "recently discovered in a private collection". I believe that auction catalogues should list all available info, not just the favourable bits. Hiding earlier different attributions is not a good practice...

UPDATE: sold for 24,000 Swiss Francs, just below the lower estimate but still a nice profit. I guess that at least some people were convinced that it truly was a Teniers; I still don't like the work though...

Inspiration taken from Carlo Maratta

Vanderkindere, in Brussels, sells on 15 September 2015 a "French School, 18th century" Diana and Actaeon, estimated at 700 to 900 Euro.

The painting is clearly inspired by the Diana and Actaeon by Carlo Maratta (from Christ Church, Oxford), with the main figure an adaptation of the Diana from Maratta, and the two figures to the left and right directly taken from the same work. It's a skillfull adaptation, rearranging the figures in a good composition, and adding details like the feet in the water. Whether the one for sale is French or Italian is not clear, it's not an original Maratta but a nice work nevertheless and probably worth a bit above the estimate. UPDATE: sold for 3,000 Euro, so not just "a bit" above the estimate.

Circle of Nicolas de Largillière

Rops, auction house from Namur in Belgium, sells on 30 August 2015 an "18th century portrait", measuring 80 by 65 cm and estimated at 2,600 to 3,000 Euro.

The style reminds me of the works of Nicolas de Largillière (1656-1746), one of the most celebrated French portrait artist of his period. Although it probably isn't by him (the "Portrait of a Gentleman" pictured above is clearly a lot better), it looks (as far as one can tell from the too small picture) to be a good quality portrait, finely capturing the materials and the person (many would-be Largillières have quite awkward faces), with rich detailing.

The painting is sadly damaged, but should be easily worth its estimate, compared with what other similar portraits often fetch. Closer inspection may give a better idea of the real quality and value though, and perhaps of the author and subject. UPDATE: sold for a nice 4,600 Euro.