More unrecognized Abraham Janssens copies

On Monday I blogged about an unrecognized copy after Abraham Janssens coming up for sale. As is so often the case, these things seem to come in small waves, as here are five others in the same situation!

Brussels Art Auctions sells on 15 December 2015 a "17th century, Antwerp School" series of five small paintings (37 by 30 cm) depicting the five senses, estimated together at 7,000 to 10,000 Euro. Only four of them are shown at the auction site (and here), "Hearing" is missing.

Such series were very popular in 16th and 17th century Flanders, ranging from the four seasons and the five senses to the 12 Sibyls, kings, months, or the 12 proverbs by Brueghel in the Mayer Van den Bergh Museum.

This particular series is a copy after the works of Abraham Janssens, which seem only to be known through copies, though usually of a much higher quality. The above "Sight", from Hampel Auctions, was estimated at 70,000 to 90,000 Euro on its own (but apparently not sold). A poorer copy, but still clearly better than what is for sale now, was sold at Christie's in 2001 for 4,495 Euro (as an Allegory of Vanity).

The above "Feeling" was sold at Dorotheum in 2009 for 18,600 Euro. Copies of the "Taste" can also be found online, e.g. one sold at Dorotheum in 2000 for 15,000 Euro, but unrecognised as one of the senses and described instead as "Gipsy woman, allegory of beauty or Vanitas".

The most complete series of copies I could find was a series of 4 sold at Neumeister in 1999 for 23,000 Euro. It included the one work not depicted here, "Hearing", together with Sight, Feeling and Smell (and missing Taste).

All five works appear on the market regularly in copies, though rarely if ever as a full series, so in that regard this is a chance to get a poor but complete copy of a famous series. But the estimate seems a bit high anyway, I can't see people paying more than 1,000 Euro each for these, or 5,000 Euro together.