Wednesday, 19 April 2017

"Circle of Vrancx" is another copy after Hendrick Aerts

Merry Old England, a quantly named auction house from Germany, sells on 20 April 2017 a "Circle of Sebastiaen Vrancx and Hendrick van Steenwijk the Younger, monogrammed CVL f(ecit)" chruch interior, estimated at 16,000 Euro.

It is another (nice) copy after Hendrick Aerts, a view of the chruch of Laterans which I already discussed in September 2016.

I have no idea why the auction house references Sebastiaan Vrancx, I see no link with his work. Strangely, the work for sale was offered at Sotheby's Amsterdam in 2002 with the correct identification of subject and origin,as can easily be found at RKD. This makes it clear that the scene on the left, which replaces the baptismal font in the original, is "Jesus and the Adulterous Woman". It dates the work to 1658. I haven't been able to find the result in 2002 though.

The estimate seems somewhat high for what is in the end one of many copies of this work (though far from the worst of them). 6,000 to 8,000 Euro seems more realistic.

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