"16th century Flemish School" is by follower of Quentin or Jan Matsys

De Ruiter, from the Netherlands, sells on 19 March 2020 a "Flemish School, 16th century" "pastoral romantic scene" estimated at 2,000 to 3,000 Euro.

The panel is clearly made by a follower of Jan Matsys (1510-1575), the son of Quentin Matsys. Jan often used the same male head in his satirical pieces, like the above "Prodigal Son" from Petworth House.

But the same head also appears in works by his father, like the "Ill-matched lovers" from the National Gallery in Washington.

Closer comparison clearly shows the similarities, and the differences, which are partly due to the worse condition of the one for sale. I have also mirrored the head from the Jan Massys to show again the same origin.

I couldn't find an equally matching example for the head of the woman, but it still clearly fits in the range of caricatural older woman depicted by both Massyses.

The man's head is by far the best part of the work for sale: if it all had been like that, I would have probably put it down as a workshop copy, not the work of a follower, and would have adjusted the value upwards accordingly. As it stands though, it still is an interesting work from the period, and should easily fetch the estimate.

A nearly identical work (almost the same dimensions as well) was sold by Hampel in 2014, estimated at 3,000 to 5,000 Euro, and described correctly as "follower of Quentin Massys". I don't know if it was sold, and for how much. The bottom of the two is the De Ruiter one, for ease of comparison.