Tuesday 11 October 2016

"Flemish School" is Circle of Gerrit Van Honthorst

De Vuyst, from Belgium, sells on 22 October 2016 a "Flemish School, 17th cnetury" Saint Cecilia, a nice sized (95 by 119 cm) work estimated at 3,000 to 5,000 Euro.

It is a good copy after Gerrit Van Honthorst. The 1623 original can be found in the Gemäldegalerie in Kassel, Germany (with very similar dimensions, 90 by 116 cm, info from RKD), but different copies from the same period are known.

One such was sold at Sotheby's in 2008 for £10,000. Slightly smaller than the one here (71 by 85 cm), it was at first glance in a worse condition and not in general better painted either (e.g. the highlighting of the clothing of Cecilia is much better in the version for sale). However, the one for sale has some issues (e.g. the hands of Cecilia have two colours, and there is a strange spot or some damage in her mouth), not really clear to me whether she needs some restoration or whether some restoration has gone wrong.

Still, it should easily fetch the upper estimate.

UPDATE: sold for 3,300 Euro, a bit less than I expected.

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