Antwerp painting at Koller: probably by Vincent Sellaer

Koller, from Switzerland, sells on 22 March 2016 an "Antwerp, 2nd half of the 16th century" Caritas, estimated at 12,500 to 20,000 Euro.

They correctly identify it with an RKD entry where it was described as by "Pseudo-Lombard". Other names dropped in the auction catalogue are Gossaert, Jan Massys, and Frans Floris.

A name strangely absent from that list, but probably the most closely related, is Vincent Sellaer. He has painted multiple Caritases in the same style as this one.

Artcurial sold in 2006 (and again in 2010) a painting from the "Studio of Sellaer" which is another version of the work for sale.

UPDATE: not sold.

"Old painting" with strange story is copy after Jacob Jordaens

Rops, from Belgium, sells on 7 March 2016 an "Old painting", oil on canvas, no description (update: even worse, now described as "Jeu de Boules" or Bowls Game!), estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 Euro.

It isn't well painted, but the iconography, the story, was intriguing, and the composition was remarkable as well, with the frontal view of the action.

Searching for it first led me the story of Atalanta and Melanion, where Melanion threw golden apples to the ground; because Atalanta stopped to pick them up, Melanion could win the race. The prize for Melanion (or Hippomenes) was marriage to Atalanta. All's well that ends well, except that this is Greek mythology, so they end up getting transformed into animals and forced to carry out some task into eternity.

Now knowing the story (although even now I don't know what the caged children are doing there in the painting), I found the original of this work quite easily: a Jacob Jordaens from 1646, sold at Sotheby's in 1986 (found at the RKD).

As a rather poor copy, it will struggle to get near the bottom estimate. UPDATE: sold for 1,700 Euro, slightly more than I expected.

Oh, and the children in cages: perhaps they were some ingenious 17th century system to prevent children-spectators from being crushed at busy festivities? Just guessing.

Rodolphe Strebelle, Belgian modernist work

Rops, from Belgium, sells on 6 March 2016 a "signed Strebelle, 1914" Meditative Young Woman, a small (24 by 32) oil estimated at 140 to 200 Euro.

It is a work by Rodolphe Strebelle (1880-1959), father of the more famous sculptor Olivier Strebelle and two further artistic children.

It is a fairly avant-garde work for its time in Belgium, with elements of Fauvism and Luminism to it, and is comparable (though smaller and more sketchy) to a work from 1917 sold at Galerie Moderne in 2007 for 6,500 Euro. It should be worth a lot more than the estimate, closer to 1,000 Euro probably.

UPDATE: sold for 1,000 Euro, yay!

Dubious copy of a work I already presented

Westport, from the US, sells on 28 February a "Flemish old master, ca. 17th century" portrait of a family praying before their meal, estimated at $400 to $800.

It is a poorly painted (and preserved) copy of a work I highlighted in this blog post and which was sold in Germany in October 2015 for 750 Euro. Now, I have seen often enough that paintings have many copies and different versions floating around, and that sometimes they appear almost simultaneously: but this case is to me just too suspicious. An obscure, unusual work that months after its appearance on the market suddenly has another version, poorly painted, which looks as if it was made yesterday. Lots of damage but no craquelure?

It isn't expensive, but it is a poor painting in any case, and a highly dubious one to boot. Best to avoid it altogether.

Unrecognosed painting by Dunikowski, "best 20th century Polish sculptor"

Rops, from Belgium,  sells on 6 March 2016 a "Signed Danikowski 1921" painting titled La Sarabande, estimated at 200 to 300 Euro.

It is a work by Xawery Dunikowski, a major Polish sculptor who was also a trained painter but who has left very few paintings. He lived in Paris between 1914 and 1920-1921, so it may well be that this painting has stayed in Western Europe from the start.

It is very hard to value this work, as no comparable works have been on the market. His sculptures from the same period, which rarely come on the market either, have fetched around $40,000 when sold in Paris.

A painting from 1922 (a portrait; not really comparable, but same size and signature) sold for about $1,300 in 1992 at Agra auctions; but in many Eastern European countries has the interest in their own artists grown considerably over the last decades, so I guess that this may not be really representative. I would certainly be very surprised if this painting, properly atributed, would sell for less than 2,000 Euro.

UPDATE: sold for 2,000 Euro, exactly what I predicted for once ;-)

Inviting Dutch woman portrait

Galerie Moderne sells on 23 February 2016 an "Anonymous, dated 1673" portrait of a woman, estimated at 1,000 to 1,500 Euro.

It caught my eye because of the rather inviting pose of the woman: while the painting is at first glance a static, typical modest portrait of a somewhat Puritan or Calvinistic Dutch 17th century woman in the typical luxury clothing of the period, it changes when you notice the way she actively opens the lower part of her dress to reveal the embroidered red undergarments (sounds like lingerie, but is still well-dressed).

I don't know how to read this, whether this was considered perfectly normal and acceptable or whether this is way more suggestive and gives a glimpse of less strict morals and subjects. I wasn't aware of other comparable paintings in this genre, but searching further revealed other somewhat similar examples.

One painter who employed this was Isaac Luttichuys, who died early in 1673 and so probably isn't responsible for this work (the quality of his work was usually better as well, the work for sale is very good on a small scale but falls a bit flat when seen from up close). The above example (sold at Sotheby's in 2004) has less striking underdress, but the pose, with the hand actively opening the upper dress, is comparable.

Particularly close is the self-portrait from 1661 by Gesina Ter Borch, daughter of Gerard Ter Borch (from the Rijksmuseum).

The style of the painting for sale is comparable to the few woks by Steven van Duyven, like the above from 1680 (from the RKD). But it will most likely remain an anonymous Dutch work. Still, the unusual pose makes it more interesting than most of these, and it is easily good enough to surpass the highest estimate here.

UPDATE: sold for 1,100 Euro, not as much as I thought it would do.

UPDATE 2: again for sale at Tradart Deauville on 9 October 2016 as Spanish School, estimated at 1,000 to 1,500 Euro.

"Flemish School, late 17th" is by Jan Spanjaert

Côte d'Opale, from France, sells on 27 February 2016 a "Flemish School, late 17th century" still life, estimated at 800 to 1,000 Euro.

The unusual subject, a still life of vegetables and utensils in an otherwise empty barn, is typical for Jan Spanjaert, whose nearly complete known oeuvre seems to exist of these paintings and the same ones with added people. Spanjaert was Dutch, not Flemish, and worked mainly in the first half of the 17th century, so the date is somewhat off at the auction.

The above detail is from a nice Spanjaert sold by Jean Moust, and is very comparable to the one for sale. It features the same implements, placed in the same way individually (although there overall composition is somewhat changed), like the black kettle diagonally on top of the copper one.

The RKD also has a similar work, sold at Christie's in 2007.

The work for sale has a bad crack right across, but otherwise seems to be an interesting work by a minor but typical master of the period, and should be worth closer to 2,000 Euro.

5K "16th - 17th century Italian school" is mediocre copy after Rubens (plus one other)

La Suite, from Spain, sells on 18 February 2016 a "16th-17th century Italian School" "Tribute to Caesar", estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 Euro.

Too bad that it's a mediocre copy after Rubens' "The Tribute Money" from the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. Worth in the low thousands at most; but should fail to reach the estimate.

Another unrecognised Rubens copy for sale is on 28 February 2016 at Mercier, French auction house. It is described as "Flemish School, 17th century" and is estimated at 3,000 to 4,000 Euro. I couldn't immediately find the original online, but many copies float on the web.

This is a drawing by (presumably) Van Dyck after the original. Just like the other copies at the RKD, it has the to me rather hilarious title "Job tormented by demons and his wife". Estimate seems a tad high for a not very well executed copy.

Death of the Miser or Ill-matched Couple?

Vanderkindere, from Brussels, sells on 23 February 2016 an "Antwerp, late 16th century" Death of the Miser small oil on copper (13 by 15 cm) estimated at 400 to 600 Euro.

It looks more like the (related) subject of the Ill-matched couple, about the love (or lust) between old and young; in this case, the woman prefers youth over money, and death is coming for the old man already.

The same composition, minus the death and in reverse, can be found on RKD as the work of an anonymous Flemish master from the first half of the 16th century.  It's a much larger work (60 by 120) but the rather poor image doesn't make it obvious that it is a better picture, nor which one would be closer to the original.

The RKD reveals also a farther removed but much better painting by Cornelis van Haarlem from 1597, so close to the dates of the two works above. Here the impression of lust instead of love is obviously a lot stronger. The second work is also by Van Haarlem and from 1597, and is closer to the first two paintings, although here it looks more as if the woman will cheat on her young husband to get some money from the old man (note the "horns" of hair she wears).

The work for sale seems cheap, as it is an alluring subject, but it isn't by a major painter. It should fetch closer to 1,000 Euro probably.

UPDATE: the work for sale is strangely reminiscent of a Hendrick Goltzius design (here in a Saenredam engraving) of ca. 1598, which reverses the gender roles but which has nearly the same characters for the young couple. Same hat and collar for the woman, same hat for the man... far from a copy, but coming from the same influence surely.

UPDATE 2: found the engraving that's probably the basis for this painting. It's by Crispin de Passe and it is available online thanks to a 2007 blog by a Mr. H.(?) The engraving doesn't seem to have any info on the original artist of this image, but the blog states that many of his engravings are after Marten de Vos, while others are after Jacques Bellangé.

The same blog shows another de Passe engraving, which coincidentally is the reverse of the above Goltzius engraving, but with an added Death as well... Something strange is happening here!

Yet another copy of a Francken (or more likely De Caullery) Golgotha

A short note about a Vanderkindere auction (Brussels, 23 February 2016). The "Circle of Francken" crucifixion is estimated at 1,400 to 1,600 Euro.

It is another version of the painting type I already discussed recently in this blog post, where the conclusion was that this type is more likely the work of the De Caullery Workshop than of the Francken Workshop. This is a fairly well executed example and should easily fetch the estimate.

UPDATE: a blog reader alerted me to yet another version of the same work, now for sale at Spanish auction  house Setdart, for 18 February 2016, estimated at a whopping 18,000 to 20,000 Euro! Needless to say that it will never fetch that much, considering that it is a good but far from brilliant version. It's at first glance a better version than the Vanderkindere one, but the larger image (almost every picture on my blog can be seen as a larger image!) shows that the faces, the white highlights, and other details are done rather crudely. Condition seems good though, but getting 5,000 Euro for this would be a big success.

UPDATE 2: sold for 1,500 Euro, as expected.

UPDATE 3: now for sale at DVC, from Ghent, as "School or Circle of Francken" and estimated at 1,000 to 2,000 Euro. Someone seems to have bought this with hopes of something better (though I wouldn't know what exactly, it didn't look like a real Caullery or Francken in the first place) and will now be lucky to get their money back.

"Studio of Sebastian Vrancx" is a copy after Bassano

Swedish art dealer JP Willborg sells (well, the site gives a price of 0 Euro, so technically that's giving away) a "Sebastian Vrancx. His studio" Allegory of Winter.

It actually is a copy after a well-known Francesco Bassano "Allegory of Winter", from the Dulwich Gallery (upper picture), or a variation by one of the other Bassanos (version by Jacopo shown below). The Bassanos were often copied in the 17th century (in Italy and Flanders), and Vrancx seems to be the painter du jour, with every competently painted work vaguely in his style attributed to him or his studio, a bit like everything was a Brueghel 100 years ago. In this case, I don't think the work is good enough for the attribution, certainly not considering it is a copy, which means that the good composition tends to make the painting look better than it actually is.

The work was known in Flanders through copies made by painters who visited Italy, and by engravings by artists like Sadeler (above).

The RKD lists e.g. the above Anonymous Flemish ca. 1600 copy, with some strange additions to the left.

I would describe the work for sale also as an anonymous Flemish copy after Bassano, and not as a Studio of Vrancx. The value should be in the low thousands.

17th century Flemish School or Ippolito Scarsellino?

Bruun Rasmussen, from Denmark, sells on 8 February 2016 a "Flemish School, early 17th century" Holy Family with John the Baptist, a small (19 by 15) oil on copper estimated at 2,000 to 2,700 Euro.

Another version of the same work (only marginally larger) was sold at Christie's in July 2003 as "Follower of Ippolito Scarsellino", with an estimate of £1,500 to £2,000.

The different colours and details between the two version give the impression of them being copies after an engraving, which I haven't found so far.

Another version, also early 17th century, can be found at RKD: it was sold by Dorotheum in 2007 as 
"Gabriel Franck", but has been reclassified as "after" or "in the manner of" Franck by the RKD. Not a very good painting, but nice as an example of how around the same time three artists can give three seriously varying interpretations of the same engraving.

But is it Flemish or Italian? No idea, an art dealer offers yet another version and believes it to be "Italy ca. 1620". It's the worst of the four versions so far...

It's a bit annoying that while this image obviously was very well-known in its day, I can't tell you who made the original, or even when and where. Is it Italian or Flemish? My guess would be Italian, but it's hard to be certain... It should be dated around 1600 probably, but that's all I can say at the moment.

The one for sale is a nice example, well-painted, but still, you aren't buying an original but a copy after an engraving, which is somewhat less interesting. It should be worth the estimate, but such works sometimes sell for surprisingly low amounts.