A charming Jesus as a child

Aguttes Neuilly, from France, sells a nice collection of old paintings in their auction of 12 March 2019.

Lot 63 is a "Jesus in the workshop of Joseph", attributed to the workshop of Pieter Lisaert and estimated at 1,500 to 2,500 Euro. Pieter Lisaert is a follower of Francken, one of the few we know by name and who are not called Francken. A few other similar scenes are known by him, and this painting is clearly in the general style of the Franckens. It is very charming, even if it isn't the best painting.

One can compare this with two paintings found at RKD, one with a now rejected attribution to Lisaert (because they don't know which, if any, of the 4 Pieter Lisaerts may have painted it!), and one still attributed to him. All three have similar small dimensions (the one for sale is 37 by 29 cm).

The subject is unusual but not totally unheard of, as can be seen in this engraving by Theodoor Galle from the same period (found at the Rijksmuseum).

Another similar, perhaps slightly older work was sold at Bertolami for 3,600 Euro. That one was attributed to a Flemish painter active in Italy in the late 16th century.

But by far the most similar painting is this one from Wikigallery (which has a truckload of interesting images, but a regrettable lack of information on where they found them, and an ugly watermark). It is said to be "French School". The whole scene, and especially the rather close two Josephs, seem to point to some common origin, a painting or engraving I haven't found yet.

The Mary from that French School painting seems to be inspired by a Holy Family by Murillo. And the Jesus from that painting comes from an anonymous Italian 16th century engraving (found at the British Museum)! This starts to feel like following a trail of bread crumbs.

The estimated value for this one seems about right.

Tomorrow probably more from this auction!