Rhône-Alpes auctions, from France, sells on 15 October 2016 an "Antwerp School, 16th century, follower of Van der Weyden" Descent of the Cross, estimated at 12,000 to 15,000 Euro.
It is yet another copy of the work I discussed more extensively in
a post from March this year. The way the flesh and colours are represented in the version for sale now indeed points to a somewhat later version, which makes it a very interesting example of how long a few famous works of the early 15th century Flemish painters continued to be copied by skilled artists. This is especially clear in the face of John the Evangelist to the left. One wonders whether painters from the school of Massys were responsible for these copies.
The estimate would normally be too steep for a copy, but this is an iconic, early work, and a very good copy, done by a skilled master, so I guess the price is about right. With some cleaning (if it needs cleaning) or some restoration (if it has been slightly overcleaned already, hard to tell from the picture), one would get a very good looking, well-preserved work in return.
Note that in what is on the one hand a remarkable coincidence, and on the other hand evidence of the number of times this work wsa copied, there are now two other versions of this work at auction. One is the above shown version which was sold in March already, but somehow is again for sale already on 22 September 2016 at
Hampel with a 20,000 to 25,000 Euro estimate.
The other comes on the market at
Ruef (lot 129), another German auction house I haven't encountered yet. It is a somewhat more amateuristic copy than the other two, but still fairly close to the original and reasonably well executed. Estimated at 3,500 Euro, it is an affordable way to get a presumably 16th c. copy of a Van der Weyden at your wall.
UPDATE: the French version went for
24,000 Euro, double the estimate: the Hampel and Ruef ones were unsold.
Update 2: the
Ruef one is again for sale on 28 April 2017 with the same 3,500 Euro estimate.
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