Almost bought an unknown Rubens' drawing

Marquis-Olivier, from France, sells on 16 December 2017 a "Flemish School, 17th century" drawing (sanguine) of "Angels adoring the Virgin", estimated at 200€ (they first offered it a month ago with a 400€ estimate, but I guess it didn't sell then).

At first, I was very excited about this drawing, as it looked like a work by Rubens, a sketch for his Vallicella Madonna (of which different versions exist).

The drawing is similar enough to be clearly about the same work, but different enough not to be a copy after it but some design for it.

The quality of the drawing was good (though not superb), and the style was typical for Rubens' in his Italian period.

Luckily I contacted someone who knows a lot more about Rubens. At first they were enthusiastic (but realistic), and agreed that this could well be an unknown and unrecognised drawing by Rubens.

But just days before the sale, they came back with bad news: it is almost certainly a copy after all, not after a painting, but after an authentic drawing by Rubens kept in the Albertina in Vienna. That drawing is nearly identical to the one for sale, but better in its execution. They may still be two versions of the same design, with perhaps the one for sale slightly earlier, but the more likely explanation is that the one for sale is a copy after the one in the Albertina (perhaps at best a workshop copy from Rubens' time). So in the end we decided, with some regrets, not to go for it.

And that's how I almost bought an unknown Rubens' drawing!

Old "Attributed to Simone Martini" is copy after Master of the Gold Brocade

Allgäuer, from Germany, sells on 11 January 2018 as lot 1989 a "Painter of the 19th / 20th century" Maria Lactans, estimated at 100 Euro. They indicate that it has an old attribution to Simone Martini.

It actually is a copy after the Master of the Gold Brocade, a composition I discussed at some length in a post from May 2017. The version for sale is probably later (as indicated by the auction house) and in any case definitely not by the Master of the Gold Brocade; but even so it is a very cheap copy (if you exclude shipping costs and the like when you're not based in Germany). If it would turn out to be 16th century, it would of course be worth closer to 5,000 Euro, but without provenance and seeing only the front of the painting in a photo, this is for me impossible to be certain about.

This composition is of course very closely related to the one by the Master of the Magdalen Legend I discussed last week; the main differences are the background, the clothing of the child, and the position of the hands. In every original by the Master of the Gold Brocade, this background brocade is symmetrical left-right, but in this version it is more some loose decoration, again indicating that it isn't an original.

The auction also has a decent and cheap copy after Van Dyck: lot 1997, a work of nearly a square meter. 300 Euro is a bargain for this.

UPDATE: the Master of the Gold Brocade, estimated then at 100 Euro, is now (19 April 2018) for sale at Christie's New York with an estimate of $6,000 to $8,000, described as "South Netherlandish School, last quarter of the 15th century". Good work by whoever bought this!

UPDATE 2: and it sold for a whopping $21,000, or 200 times the estimate it had 3 months earlier!

Wise and Foolish Virgins

Accademia Fine Art, from Monaco, sells on 17 December 2017 an "Attributed to Frans Francken" scene of merrymaking, estimated at 7,000 to 9,000 Euro.

The scene is the Parable of the 5 Wise and the 5 Foolish Virgins, which was quite popular in the 17th century in Flanders and is known from a few recurring compositions (see e.g. my post from April 2015).

This one can indeed be situated with the Franckens, although one sold at Christie's in 2009 was attributed to Pieter Lisaert, according to the RKD. That one fetched $25,000. The main difference, apart from the quality and condition, seems to be the castle scene on the upper right, where the foolish virgins are drinking wine. Daring! The dimensions are nearly identical though (72 by 105 vs. 73 by 104)

Another version is attributed to Francken.

The copy for sale is rather weak and definitely not made by Francken himself, and the estimate seems rather steep. Getting 3,000 to 4,000 for it would be a very good result.

UPDATE: not sold, again for sale on 31 January 2018 (now as a Frans Francken II, not "attributed to"!) with an estimate of 3,200 to 3,800 Euro, which is more realistic but still optimistic.

A nice Flemish drawing at the same auction (which had already been offered last year, if my memory doesn't deceive me), is actually a copy after Gerard Seghers (engraving by Paulus Pontius). The 320 Euro estimate certainly isn't excessive, but don't expect to buy an original design by a master...

"Flemish, 18th century" is probably Dutch, 17th century

Gallerias Arno, from Italy, sells on 13 December 2017 an " 18th century Flemish Master" nocturnal village kermesse, estimated at 1,200 Euro.

It isn't really a kermesse (a village feast) but a typical "help, my village is burning" painting. It is also not Flemish, but Dutch, and not 18th century, but first half of the 17th century.

It is the work of or after Pieter de Bloot (1601-1658), and the RKD has a very similar work (but in much better condition) which was sold at Sotheby's in 1958 and 1994, with nearly the same dimensions.

At best, the work for sale needs cleaning to reveal actual de Bloot quality, and the estimate is a relative bargain; at worst, it is a poorer copy where the estimate is the most it will fetch.

"Spinning virgin revisited"

Badisches Auktionshaus, from Germany, sells on 13 December 2017 a "16th / 17th century" Mary with spindle, estimated at 800 Euro.

It immediately reminded me of one of my early blog posts from March 2015, on the "Virgin child spinning", a theme which is popular in so-called Cuzco painting. The painting then was a lot better than the one now (although this one is charming and not too amateuristic, which is often a plague with Cuzco paintings), but then again the estimate was 10,000 Euro, not 800 Euro.

Searching for more information on the one for sale now led me by a happy coincidence to more information on the painting I discussed back then.

I knew that it was sold at the previous auction, but not for how much. The new owner is Robert Simon Fine Art, a major Old Master dealer from New York City.

They have been able to attribute the painting to Juan Simon Gutierrez (1643-1718), and they describe it as "the earliest and most elaborate depiction of the Child Virgin Spinning theme." They also claim that the version in the Prado (which I also discussed in that earlier blog post) is also by Gutierrez. No indication of the current price, but it may be considerable...

They also seem to carry other paintings I discussed, e.g. this one.

The one for sale in Baden is probably a lot more recent than the description thinks, I would guess it is late 18th or 19th century. The value is probably about right. 

"Master of the Loire Valley" is Master of the Magdalen Legend

Hampel, from Germany, sells on 7 December 2017 a "Second half of the 15th Century French Master, probably a Master of the Loire Valley" Virgin and Child, estimated at 15,000 to 25,000 Euro.

The composition is a version of a work by the Master of the Magdalen Legend: the position of the child, the way the breast is held, and the jewel on the forehead of the Virgin. The main difference is the thickness and darkness of the shadows, creating a much heavier (and somewhat later) effect than the usual versions by the Master of the Magdalen Legend.

One version (attributed to the Workshop) was sold at Sotheby's in 2013 for $46,000.

Another version was sold again at Sotheby's, in 2010, for $134,000.

Other versions can be found according to the RKD at the Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp, on the art market in Berlin, ... Some have a background, most are on a gold ground; most are rounded at the top, some are squared, some are tondos.

This particular version is either the same as or very, very close to one sold by Sotheby's to art dealer Wildenstein in 1948, and was by Friedländer attributed to the Master of the Magdalen Legend (information and image from the RKD). Most telling is the background: it has the same lighter stripe horizontally at the height of the jewel, and the same lighter on the top left and top middle (other lighter patches in the black and white photographs are due to the RKD watermark, the main disadvantage of using pictures from the RKD).

Even though this is one of the most common 15th century Flemish works, and the Master of the Magdalen Legend is a poor man's Hans Memling, it still is a very good and rare example of true Early Netherlandish Painting; and with a provenance going back to at least 1948 (plus the chance that Sotheby's or their 1948 catalogue will have more information), and an attribution by Friedländer himself (he isn't infallible, but he remains the greatest art historian for this period), you can't go wrong at the estimate, and this can easily fetch 50,000 Euro.

UPDATE: sold for 120,000 Euro, more than even I expected!

"South Italian, style of Caravaggio" is copy after Rubens

Hampel, from Germany, sells on7 December 2017 a "South Italian, first half of the 17th century, style of Caravaggio" Give unto Caesar, estimated at 4,000 to 6,000 Euro.

It is a reverse copy after Peter Paul Rubens, "Tribute Money", now in the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. The estimate seems rather high as it is not the best painted version (e.g. the Jesus is rather poor).

"Cornelis Massys" is another follower of Gillis Mostaert

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 12 December 2017 a "Flemish School, 17th century" Crucifixion, estimated at 700 to 1,000 Euro.

Comparable poor copy of the Mostaert composition

Something closer to the original

More elaborate one

It is attributed on the frame to Cornelis Massys (1508-1556), but this is rightly rejected by the auction house. It is yet another copy of the best-known work of Gillis Mostaert, which I have (with many examples) discussed in a blog post in February 2017.


This copy isn't good enough to be an original by Mostaert, but as an old version of a known work, in good condition and with some interesting details in the background to lift it above the usual Flemish crucifixions, it should easily fetch the estimate and is probably worth 1,200 Euro or so.

Healing of the lame by Saints Peter and John

Carlo Bonte, from Belgium, sells on 13 December 2017 a "Southern Netherlands, 17th century" Healing of the lame by Peter and John, estimated at 6,000 to 8,000 Euro.

At first I was looking for an artist like Bartholomeus Spranger, who ha a similar femininity in some of his figures, curved like the Saint John is here, and whose angels and faces look similar as well. A drawing I found at the RKD seemed to point in the same direction. But the work had too many more Baroque elements to be satisfyingly attributed to Spranger.

Further research led me to an engraving by the very prolific Jacques Callot (1592-1635), a French artist who was influential throught Europe. The work for sale is a faithful but very good copy of the engraving, and in fact in many aspects improves upon the engraving (which is unusual).

Apparently the engraving was based on a painting by Ludovico Cardi (Cigoli) (1559-1613), for which I haven't found an original. The above two images are both said to be by Cigoli in online searches, but aren't good enough to be by him. The work for sale is a lot better, but when seen up close shows some less precise, more rushed sections, the kind of thing one would expect more in a copy than in an original. So perhaps this is a copy made by some rather good Flemish painter while on his Grand Tour?

Copies normally aren't worth a lot, but this one is good. If (and it's a big if) the original of the work is lost, then it might be worth even more as the best representation left of it, but usually for every copy I can find online a lot of others are still unavailable or much harder to find. It should be worth around the estimate.

If, by chance, this turns out to be the original after all (which isn't impossible, Cigoli isn't the most perfect artist and often has weaker parts in his works), it should be worth 30,000 Euro instead (not because a name is worth more than an anonymous work, but because an original is worth more than a copy).

Vranckx, Pynas, Francken? Why not Breughel!

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 11 December 2017 a "Flemish School, early 17th century, Circle of Breughel" Preaching of John the Baptist, estimated at 8,000 to 12,000 Euro.

The fun bit is that I already discussed this composition in June 2015, and then concluded that it was hard to attribute, as I could find versions linked to Sebastian Vranckx, Frans Francken, and Jan Pynas. So now we may add Pieter Breughel to that list... I don't see much of a connection to his work, but it is a name that sells, and when a work is reasonably good, Flemish, and late 16th century in style, why not aim for the best?

All versions have minor differences (e.g. this is the only one of the five shown where the standing woman on the left isn't holding a parasol), and all have a completely different background (almost as if the original had no background and every copiist had to fill in the blanks). This version is one of the better, but the estimate seems a bit high and I would estimate this one at 5,000 to 6,000 Euro instead.

Harp

Rops, from Belgium, sells on 17 December 2017 a "18th century" King Salomon, estimated at 4,000 to 5,000 Euro.

No idea who painted it, it is too generic and not showing enough character to place it with or close to a specific painter, but I can tell you two things: it is a King David, not a King Salomon, and the beautiful harp is not a new invention but copied with minor modifications (making it less explicit, which may also explain the changed position of the harp).

It can be found originally on a painting of the same subject by Domenichino, some 200 years earlier. Our painter may have learned about it from a print (example from the British Museum).

The estimate seems somewhat optimistic, but Rops has surprisingly high results sometimes.