"Antwerp School, 19th century" is copy after Landseer

Horta, from Brussels, sells on 24 April 2017 an "Antwerp School, 19th century, bears signature Verlat" Monkey and Cat scene, estimated at 1,000 to 1,500 Euro.

The painting has a signature C. Verlat, for Charles Verlat (1824-1890), one of the better Belgian painters of the 19th century, who painted monkey scenes quite often. The signature is clearly apocriphal though (hence the "bears signature" auction catalogue instead of a "signed by" description).

This work shows a rather sadistic scene, with a monkey grabbing the paw of a cat to get some chestnuts from a hot fire. Two kittens are looking at the scene with dismay. The scene comes from a fable made famous by French author Lafontaine (1679) but known from older examples. It was also popular in Britain and is the origin of the expression "cat's paw". There are many depictions of the story, most a lot less cruel than this one, with the monkey simply convincing the cat to grab the chestnuts, but not forcing it to do so.

This composition is originally by Sir Edwyn Landseer (1802-1873), and this early work by him (1824) is kept in the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

The main differences, apart from the brilliance of the finished work by Landsheer, is that in his work the monkey has a red jacket, and that a broken glass in the original has been transformed int a sliced lemon in the copy.

Whether the painting for sale is taken directly from the original or from one of the engraved copies after it is unclear. If it is based on an engraving, it would explain the smal differences, but then the copyist would have guessed the colours remarkably well.

The work for sale most likely will remain anonymous, but is a fairly good copy of a great painting, though not the most friendly painting to hang on the wall above the dinner table probably. It should easily fetch the estimate.

UPDATE: sold for 700 Euro, results at the auction seem all to have been rather low