Thursday 31 March 2016

Master of the Parrot? Master of the Prodigal Son is more likely

Hampel sells on 7 April 2016 an "Early Netherlandish Master, 1th or 16th century" Lamentation, estimated at 12,000 to 15,000 Euro. In the description, they indicate that during the search for an artist, they discussed the circle of the Master of the Parrot. Which is an easy way to drop a name without actually attributing it...

I can't see much likeness between this work and the works of the parrot master. His faces and shadow working are completely different.

Other copies of the same work led me to another artist though, the Master of the Prodigal Son. One attributed directly to this artist was for sale at Dorotheum in 2013. While more modern and probably more accomplished, I like it less than the one for sale now. Perhaps I wasn't the only one with that feeling, as it was again offered for sale a year later at Dorotheum with only an 18,000 Euro estimate, and still failed to sell.

According to the RKD, another version, much closer to the one for sale now, was offered at Dorotheum in 2011 as "After the Master of the Prodigal Son". The coloring, face, background all are much more similar to the one for sale now and point to a common origin if not the same hand. I haven't been able to find the price of that work though.

Of the three works shown here, I like the one for sale the most, and it should easily fetch the lower estimate.

UPDATE: not sold

UPDATE 2: again for sale at Hampel with same description and estimate on 30 June 2016.


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