Nice Van Mieris, but is it Willem or Frans?

Bamberger, from Germany, sells on 3 December 2016 as lot 922 a "Willem van Mieris, signed" scene of three men in a window, estimated at 3,000 Euro.  At 25 by 19 cm, it is a small painting.

While Willem (and the other members of the Mieris family ) are well-known for their images of people doing entertaining things in a woindow frame, these usually are more refined people in curved, stone windows; the work here is much more in the tradition of Van Ostade, showing the less restrained peasants. With the man in the upper left looking straight at us, and the two additional portraits (oval top right, and rectangular paper bottom right) of similar men, I wonder whether this isn't some kind of triple self-portrait painted for fun between the more formal, stiff genre scenes that filled much of his career.

When looking for comparable paintings, I noticed the above ones. The first one is by Willem van Mieris, and has a square "inner frame" and similar dimensions (20 by 16 cm). However, the style and theme is much more typical for Van Mieris. The second one, sold at Sotheby's in 1998, is again a bit closer wrt the composition, but the topic is the same stylized, rather boring Mieris work. The final one, for which I have only this engraving and not the original (which was probably lost a few hundred years ago), is by far the closest to the one for sale and evidence that Mieris indeed painted this kind of work. However, according to the RKD (where I found all three images), this one is originally by Frans Van Mieris I (1635-1681), not Willem van Mieris (1662-1747, son and pupil of Frans I). Not having seen the signature on the work for sale, I can't judge whether it supports Willem or Frans in this case.

It is hard to compare the estimate of this one with other paintings by Van Mieris. The image in the auktion catalogue doesn't really permit to judge whether it is an original or not: it is well painted, but I'm not sure it is really good enough to be by either Mieris. However, like I said, this may have been a rather swift divertimento between more tedious but lucrative genre paintings. If it is a real one, it should be worth 10,000 Euro (for a Willem) and close to 50,000 (for a Frans I).

Jan Josef Horemans the Younger

Côte d'Opale, from France, sells on 10 December 2016 a pair of "Flemish School, 18th century" paintings of workers, estimated at 400 to 600 Euro.

The paintings are in a poor condition but seem to be fairly well painted. The auction house adds that one of them bears a signature Horemans, and I see no reason why that can't be considered to be authentic in this case.

The second painting may be damaged beyond repair, but the first one seems to be to be salvageable with some TLC, and would probably turn into a very nice painting.

The Horemans family (best known are Jan Josef I and II) very often painted an idyllic or theatrical version of people at work in an interior, like surgeons and alchemists, but also cobblers or a shoemaker or a school.To me, it looks like the work of Horemans the Younger (1714-1792), but it is hard to be sure. The younger Horemans was a bit more sentimental and colourful in many cases, while this work has a palette I would more readily associate with Horemans the Elder. But some other aspects make me choose for Younger anyway.

The dog in the second painting can be seen identical in other works by Horemans the younger. So this means at least that it is not some generic work (or pair of works) where someone afterwards added a Horemans signature: it is either a real Horemans, or a complete deliberate attempt to copy or fake it. As the paintings are so well executed, my guess would be that they are real works. Figures like the woman on the right in the second painting, or the man with the hat on the right, are much too good to be the work of a copyist. The dog as well looks intrinsically better in the work for sale than in the better preserved Horemans above.

I haven't found an exact match for the woman so far, but the man to the right can be found almost identical in a Jan Joseph Horemans I from the Hermitage from 1740.

Good paintings by Horemans the Elder often fetch around 4,000 Euro (a pair of compatable size to these fetched 7,500 at Sotheby's in Amsterdam in 2011, and one at Hampel in 2014 was estimated at 12,000€)), but these are obviously in a much worse condition. Still, the estimate is clearly too low and they should be worth around 1,500 Euro. Then spend some money on restoring them, and you end with good and still cheap originals.

"Antwerp School": Goswin van der Weyden?

Sala Retiro, from Spain, sells on 30 November 2016 an "Antwerp School, ca. 1530" circumcision, a large panel (130 by 100 cm) estimated at 19,000 Euro.

The auction catalogue says nothing about the provenance of the work. But thanks to the RKD, we can connect this sale with some much older catalogue entries and an interesting name.

In 1923, the work was in the Rothschild collection in London, and seen there by Max J. Friedländer who attributed it to Goswin Van der Weyden. The work was then sold in 1968 by Sotheby's for £5,000, and bought by a certain Marsworth. It is now listed in th RKD database as Attributed to Goswin van der Weyden. And now it suddenly reappears in Spain, with quite a lot of damage to the painting and the frame to boot, and no mention of Van der Weyden at all.

Goswin van der Weyden (1465-1538) is an interesting figure. In 19th and early 20th century art history, he was considered to be the son of Rogier Van der Weyden, and many paintings who were derivative of Rogier were attributed to him (like the relation between Pieter Brueghel the Elder and the Younger). Later research revealed though that he was the grandson, not the son (an otherwise unknown painter Peter van der Weyden was the link), and that he worked in Antwerp between about 1500 and his death. Only a few works are with some certainty attributed to him.

This work, while good and very interesting in its own right, seems not to be of the same high standards as these few certain works, so is better described as Circle of Van der Weyden, but it would warrant a good scientific study to see if the attribution to Goswin still has any merit. But I would guess that it would sell easier with the provenance and attribution than without... I would also like to know whether the damage is old, and has been revealed by cleaning it, or whether it really has happened between 1968 and now, which would be a real shame.

"Old Master" is a huge partial copy after Joos Goemaere

Campo & Campo, from Belgium, sells on 29 November 2016 an "Old master, 18th century" Christ in the house of Mary and Martha, estimated at 3,000 to 5,000 Euro.

Despite being a very large canvas (147 by 217 cm!), it is still only a partial copy of a work by Joos Goemaere from ca. 1600. I discussed this work at length in May 2016, when another copy of the painting was for sale in Germany. Goemaere has only one painting which is known to be by him, but it was a very popular one. The early equivalent of a one-hit wonder! In the work for sale, only the man in the front right seems to be an added element.


Its main redeeming quality is its massive size, such large works are rare at relatively low prices and may help this one to reach the estimate. But it's nice to see another, somewhat different version of this work.

UPDATE 1: Bernaerts sells on 5 February 2018 another version of the central element of this painting, similar to the one above (but without the added man to the right). This  one is only estimated at 500 to 600 Euro though. At 100 by 136cm, it still is pretty large, and another indication of how popular this image was.

UPDATE 2: Copages (part of Drouot) sells on 11 June 2018 another complete but simplified version, described as German School, 17th century. But it's only 32 by 54 cm, and on parchment! At 2,000 to 3,000 Euro, it is rather expensive though.

Crowning of thorns

Campo & Campo, Belgium, sells on 29 November 2016 an "Old Master, 16th century" Mocking of Christ, a rather large (107 by 71 cm) oil on panel without an estimate.

The auction catalogue adds that it was described as "Derick Baegert" at a previous sale in 1969. It is not really a Mocking of Christ, more a Crowning of Thorns, with the Flagellation in the background.

It is a work of considerable quality, but hard to put a precise name on it. I have discussed the iconography in a previous post (where I rather stupidly noticed the mechanism to put the crown of thorns on the head of Christ for the first time, even though it is standard in these paintings). This time, the addition of the Flagellation in the background is a bonus, but not a unique invention.

In some aspects the closest composition I could find is probably this one from the workshop of Cornelis Engebrechtsz., from the Gemaldegalerie in Berlin. But the painting for sale is (or looks) older or more archaic, and seems more likely to be from the end of the 15th century, and probably German. Both works have that strange element of the man kneeling in front of Christ pointing to his mouth (instead of holding out a stick, the usual element one can find here).

The above by Jan Joest of Kalkar (1450-1520) also shows the same asic composition, and is already closer in time and place.

Derick Baegert is too good an artist to be responsible for this painting, but perhaps Jan Baegert is a possibility. This Flagellation and Crowning by him is still more restrained and refined than the work for sale though.

What's it worth? 8,000 to 10,000 Euro says my gut instinct.

Rest on the Flight to Egypt

Scheublein, from Germany, sells on 2 December 216 a "Probably Dutch, 17th century" Holy Family, a small work (26 by 20) estimated at 1,200 Euro.

It is a Flemish work, showing a typical scene from the "Rest on the flight to Egypt", a playful family moment depicted by some of the greatest masters of the period. This work reminds me most of Jordaens, and more generally of the ca. 1630 Antwerp school (two examples by Van Dyck pictured).

The child especially is very close to examples by Van Dyck and Rubens.

While it isn't good enough to be attributed to Jordaens or one of the other well-known names, it still is a lot better than the estimate indicates, and should be worth 4,000 to 5,000 Euro.

UPDATE: sold for 950 Euro, way below my expectations

UPDATE 2 (June 2017): a bit late, but I have just found at the RKD the original for this work, and it is Dutch after all! It is a work by Godfried Schalcken,  from the Bayern State Museum in Munich, dated circa 1685-1690.

"Mayeur" is Adrien-Charles Le Mayeur de Merprès

Maison Jules, from Ghent, Belgium, sells on 27 November 2016 a "Mayeur" Seaview estimated at 200 to 300 Euro.

It is a typical work of Adrien-Charles Le Mayeur de Merprès (1844-1923), an early Belgian impressionist painter who is best known for this type of seaview with a low horizon and lots of clouds.

Artsignaturedictionary.com gives this type of signature incorrectly to his son, the painter Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès (1880-1958). If only...

The correct signature for Adrien Jean can be seen on other paintings. Adrien Jean seems to have had an unremarkable career until he moved to Bali in the early 1930s. He there met the love of his life, a Balinese dancer who became his model and a few years later his wife (though she was his junior by more than 30 years), and starting painting the life and woman of Bali in a colourful, vibrant style. He became well-respected and succesful and his house in Bali is now a museum.

Works by Adrien-Jean, which are quite different from the works of his father, can be very expensive: earlier this year Christie's Hong Kong sold his "Women around the lotus pond" for a whopping 3.9 million US$.

Works by Adrien-Charles in the same vein as the one for sale here, on the other hand, fetch between 600 Euro (for smaller ones like this) and 5,000 Euro (for the larger works, e.g. at Drouot 2007), so this one should be worth 500 to 800 Euro. Still considerable above estimate though.

So it does matter a bit which Le Mayeur, father or son, painted a work you are buying... 

UPDATE: sold for 200 Euro, cheap!

Anonymous Flemish "Head of Christ"

Rob Michiels, from Bruges in Belgium, sells on 26 November 2016 a "Flemish School, 16th/17th century" Head of Christ, a 53 by 45 cm oil on copper estimated at 400 to 600 Euro.

While the work looks familiar, I can't immediately find another version of this composition. The style reminds me vaguely of the works of Pieter Claeissens II, and in any case seems firmly set in the tradition of Bruges.

It seems to be some slightly more modern mixture of two Memling works, Christ Blessing and Christ Crowned with Thorns, with a similar nose and eyes, simple clothing (not the richness one can see with Massys and so on). But it clearly isn't a Memling or anything of that level, and looks to me more like a 1520-1540 painting.

The face of Christ without further attributes (like the crown of thorns) is a rather unusual subject: it may be that this is a fragment of a larger work, perhaps a Salvator Mundi. Another possibility, which would explain why he is looking to the side instead of at the viewer, is that it was coupled with a second panel, presumably a depiction of Mary.

As a strong, well-painted and original image, it should be worth 2,000 Euro.

UPDATE: sold for 800 Euro, double the estimate but clearly less than I expected.