Deutsch, from Austria, sell on 24 November (in an auction I have already posted on a few times) a "School of Nicolaes Eliasz Pickenoy (1588-1655)" Portrait of a gentleman, estimated at 400 to 800 Euro.
It is almost certainly the same painting that was sold at
Pierre Bergé in 2009 as "Anthonie Palamedesz", Portrait of Anthonij Pietersz van Bronckhorst, with a long provenance. It fetched 2,500 Euro at the time. Sadly, since then it has suffered very serious damage, which explains the low estimate but not the lack of provenance or correct attribution.
The
RKD also shows the pendant of the painting, which were kept together across many auctions before finally being separated after more than 300 years (rather sad, that).
While there are copies known of both paintings, none have the same quality (and dimensions) as in this case. How the attribution, subject, and provenance were lost (or why the auction house or owner decided not to note these) is not clear. What the actual value is of a painting which fetched 2,500 Euro before but is now heavily damaged (though luckily mainly in the background parts) is hard to tell. It should be worth between 500 and 1,000 Euro probably, if one goes with the (very low) price achieved in 2009.
UPDATE: sold for 2,000 Euro.
New attributions are always possible of course, but it is nearly certain not to be by Pickenoy, as the painting was dated 1660 and Pickenoy died in 1655.
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