Monday, 7 January 2019

"Style of Van Reymerswael" is a copy after Quinten Massys (or Van Eyck?)

Van Ham, from Germany, sells on 30 January 2019 an "In the style of Martin van Reymerswaele" Money changers, estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 Euro.

While one of the well-known compositions by van Reymerswaele is a similar work, this actual composition is not by him but by Quinten Massys, from 1514, now in the Louvre. The work for sale is clearly not of the same quality, but it has some interesting differences. Most noticeable is the Eyckian mirror, which is no longer placed on the table but now hangs on the wall, and shows the two main characters instead of a third figure (the artist?). The remainder of the background has become a lot more bland as well, and the woman now has a ledger instead of a beautiful prayer book, which is perhaps more realistic but less appealing.

The work by Reymerswaele (here shown in the version of the Prado) is also based on the Massys, but diverges on many points not copied by the version for sale. A copy of the Massys seems to be much rarer than one of Reymerswael, and the changes in this version may point to a lost Massys original, as they seem beyond the grasp of the copiist. As there is speculation that the Massys is a copy after a lost Van Eyck, it might even be that the work for sale is based on the Van Eyck, but now I'm being very optimistic.

The estimate is probably about right, but the work is more interesting than the description indicates.

UPDATE: sold for 3,800 Euro!

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