Monday 14 November 2016

Very cheap Petrus Christus copy

Mehlis, from Germany, sells on 19 November 2016 a "Late 19th century copy after Petrus Christus" Saint Eligius in his workplace, estimated at 150 Euro.

It has already received bids over that estimate, and currently stands at 230 Euro. Considering the low esteem people had for Early Netherlandish painting in the 18th and 19th century, such copies are rare and this one is a good one, so the price is bound to increase significantly still, and could easily reach 1,000 Euro.

The original painting is now in the collection of the Met, and was in the 19th century in Germany, in the Oppenheim collection, so finding a 19th century copy in Germany isn't too surprising in this case. Apart from the halo around the head of Saint Eligius, the two works are the same, so it seems as if it survived the centuries practically unchanged. The discovery that the goldsmith didn't have a halo has lead modern art historians to believe that it is not a saint, but an actual Bruges goldsmith being depicted here.

UPDATE: sold for 2,400 Euro, a much more reasonable price.

UPDATE 2: Jordaens sells on 7 February 2018 a comparable copy without an estimate. I liked the Mehlis one slightly better, but this still seems like a nice opportunity to get this cheap. Note though that the Mehlis copy was on panel, while this one is on canvas.

1 comment:

  1. Quite lovely and enlightening. I have long contended these well excecuted 19th Century copies are underappreciated and undervalued.

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