Thursday 3 November 2016

Van der Weyden still copied 100 years later


Van Ham, Germany, sells on 18 Oktober 2016 an "Antwerp Master, ca. 1550" Descent from the cross triptych, etimated at 20,000 to 30,000 Euro.

It is a fine example of how long the influence of the major Early Netherlandish painters like Van Eyck and in this case Van der Weyden continued. I already discussed copies of this work in multiple posts, the most recent one in September; but the triptych here is somewhat later and further removed from the original, which makes it worthwhile to post about it again. Plus, as in many of these, the auction house doesn't know or doesn't mention the origin, which is a pity.

The work for sale changes the positions somewhat, and abandons the old-fashioned golden background, but is clearly in essence the same composition. While it is a nice work as a whole, it is very rudimentary when looked at in detail (faces, hands, folds in clothing), and is not worth the estimate, no matter how much I like triptychs. The painting doesn't even look very old to me, but weak copies have a tendency to look more modern often, which is confusing.

UPDATE: not sold, as expected.

No comments:

Post a Comment