Unfinished Caullery concert

Issaly & Pichon, from Cannes, France, sell on 23 October an "Attributed to Louis Caullery" concert, estimated at 2,000 to 3,000 Euro.

The painting is an unfinished version of Caullery's "Galant concert", known in at least two finished versions. One is in Macon, in the Ursulines Museum (pictured). It is fascinating to see how an existing painting is copied part by part, starting with the most important features (in this case, the many persons and the major interior elements), and how normally later the remaining elements are filled in, probably by younger or less skilled contributors, or even at another workshop.

Another copy, in a better condition and slightly closer to the one I'm discussing here, was for sale a few years ago at Galerie Jonckheere.

The quality of the work for sale is close enough to the finished work that for once an "attributed to" may safely be assumed to be the real deal. What's it worth? Art historically, a lot, as it gives an unusual (though far from unique) view into workshop practices. Artistically, it is a good painting by a well-known old master, but of course the unfinished state makes it awkward (more interesting or modern in some aspects). I think it should be worth more than the estimate, up to 10,000 Euro, but it's hard to predict this kind of one-off.