"Northern School" is a copy after Goltzius

In the interesting but somewhat overestimated Boetto auctions (28-29 September, Italy, see the previous few days), they sell, apart from unidentified things like a potential Johann Karl Loth and a Titian copy, also this "School of the North, 17th Century" Concertino, estimated at 4,000 to 4,500 Euro.

It is a copy after Hendrick Goltzius, Dutch late 16th-century printmaker and occasional painter. Better versions of the work can be found online, but the best version I know of is the original Saenredam engraving after Goltzius (the copy pictured comes from the Rijksmuseum).

It would be great to find the original or something that may be it: but for a copy (although a fairly good one), the estimate seems on the high side.

UPDATE: not sold, again as expected.

Old Couple is Flemish or Dutch, not German

Italian auction house Boetto sells on 28 September 2015 a pair of paintings, "German School, 17th century, People" (in the sense of "Common People"). The two small panels (29 by 37 cm) are estimated together at 2,000 to 2,300 Euro.

The works seem to be Flemish or Dutch, not German, as the inscriptions on it are in (old) Dutch.

The man has the inscription "Wel heijle wat sout u letten / dat ick u eens brocht om te netten". The meaning isn't completely clear to me, "Well (heijle) what would stop you / that I brought you to get wet".  It seems to be, combined with the image, something like "why wouldn't we go for a drink"?

The woman bears the text: "Handen rept u ras / ghij en quaempt noijt beter te pas", or "Hands be swift / you never came in more handy".

It's a moralising but light-hearted pair of works, quite old-fashioned already at the time they were made. They seem like weak echos of the work of someone like David Ryckaert the Younger or Mattheus van Helmont (pictured), and should be dated in the late 17th or even the 18th century. They are interesting, but not good enough and I can't see them making the estimated price.

UPDATE: not sold, as expected.

"Tuscan School" closely follows a Sano di Pietro example

Boetto, Italian auctioneer, sells on 29 September 2015 a "Tuscan School, golden background triptych" with a Virgin and Child, Saint Jerome (left) and Saint Bernard of Siena (right). Medium-sized at 67 by 71 cm, it is estimated at 4,500 to 5,000 Euro.

It is a rather crudely painted, reasonably well-preserved typical work, and seems to be inspired quite heavily by the work of Sano di Pietro, although completely lacking its refinement. A work from ca. 1465-1470, from the Museum of Siena, is very similar for the central panel, has swapped the Bernard to the left side, and has replaced Jerome with Saint Catherine.

The Saint Bernard is relatvely generic, but the Madonna is much more telling. The position of the Virgin and Child, down to many details, plus the drapery in the background, the curved round pillow on the chair, all point to a common origin. The most logical explanation, considering the difference in quality, is that the work for sale is a copy after Sano di Pietro (this work or a similar one, many di Pietros use the same elements). Being a late (post 1465), poor copy, the estimate seems rather high, even though these kind of triptychs don't turn up that often any more.

UPDATE: not sold, the estimate was indeed too high.