"Circle of Michiel Coxie": follower of Laurence Neter?

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 11 March 2017 a "Circle of Michiel Coxie" (yet another one) Adam and Eve, estimated at 3,000 Euro.

I can find no similar work by Coxie, but the same composition, although slightly smaller, has been at auction at Sotheby's in 2007; in this case, it was a signed and dated work, 1639 by Laurens de Neter or Laurence Neter. I can't find the work at Sotheby's (often a sign that it was unsold), but the RKD lists it.

Much of the following information comes from an interesting article about Neter on Artwis.com.
Laurens de Neter was born in Poland ca. 1600. He learned painting from the Flemish artist Isaac van den Blocke in Poland, and then went to the Netherlands (ca. 1625), possibly to Middelburg, the city of his teacher. He went back to Poland in the late 1630s and presumably stayed there until his death in or after 1649.

Many of his paintigs were small scale works on panel (just like the one here), but usually they were typical Dutch genre scenes, not the somewhat archaic and overtly religious Adam and Eve we have here. They show the same somewhat primitive way of painting figures though,

The Neter one sold at Sotheby's seems to be a better work though than the one for sale here, especially the Adam is much more realistic and skillful (the muscles on the back!); with Eve the differenes are less clear. So it is probably safest to situate this in the circle of or to a follower of Neter. It will struggle to get the estimate though, a 1,500 to 2,000 Euro estimate seems more realistic.

"Circle of Michiel Coxie" is follower of Gilles Mostaert

Rouillac, from France, sells on 20 February 2017 a "Circle of Michiel Coxie, Flemish School ca. 1600" Crucifixion, a small panel (38 by 29 cm) estimated at 1,5000 to 2,000 Euro.

The composition is not by Coxie but by Gillis Mostaert, and is known from quite a few copies.

Dorotheum had a larger example (74 by 54 cm) one for sale in 2014, "attributed to Mostaert" and estimated at 12,000 Euro, but it remained unsold.

Freeman's sold another small one in 2015 for $7,500.

This seems to have been the restored version of the above.

On the other hand, a somewhat damaged "Follower of Mostaert" version similar to the one for sale here (though of lesser quality it seems) was estimated only £600 at Bonham's in 2015, but remained unsold.

Jackson's sold in 2011 a slightly more decorative, less austere version for $1,600, but that one was much more blurry, less precise painted.

The above one is more of a mystery, as I have no idea about its location (the image comes from one of these "art reproductions" websites which are a plague but at the same time have a large repository of images). Clearly better painted, it seems somehow also more modern. No idea of its dimensions though.

Finally, the RKD lists a much more elaborate version which was for sale at Sotheby's in 2001 as "Studio of Mostaert".

So, not the best or the worst one, compared to the 6 other copies. This "Follower" or at best "Circle" of Mostaert one will probably fetch the estimate, perhaps closer to the upper limit, but not much more. But it's always fun to show the many slightly different versions of the same painting.

UPDATE:  the always interesting Twitter account "Rembrandt's Room" (Maaike Dirkx) sent me a link to yet another one, sold at Christie's NY in 2005 but attributed to "Circle of Denys Calvaert". It sold for a nice $33,600, but is clearly one of the better ones of this type (and very closely related to one shown above).

"Denys Calvaert" is copy after Michiel Coxie

Trionfante, from Italy, sells on 14 April 2016 a "Denys Calvaert" Ecce Homo, estimated at 4,500 to 7,500 Euro.

It is yet another copy of a painting I highlighted a few times in May 2015, and not by Denys Calvaert. While not the worst copy of this work by far, it is also not worth 4,500 Euro, perhaps closer to 2,000 or thereabouts.

Another version of a "Follower of Coxie" I already discussed

DVC, Belgian auction house, sells on 29 September 2015 a "Flemish, late 16th / early 17th century, Antwerp School", estimated at 1,000 to 1,500 Euro.

It is yet another version of a composition I discussed at some length in April in this post, when French auction house Turpin offered a different version. The one for sale now also isn't an original Coxie (or Francken), but still a nice copy and certainly worth the estimate. Quite a popular work in its time!

UPDATE: again for sale at DVC on 7 June 2016 with same 1,000 Euro estimate and description.

Sotheby's "Antwerp School": Frans Floris or Michiel Coxie?

Sotheby's sells on 4 June 2015 an "Antwerp School, 16th century" Adam and Eve from a private collection in Germany, 139 by 107 cm and estimated at $40,000 to $60,000. For that amount, one could hope for a little more information, as one can fairly easily say a lot more about this painting and the possible artists.

I could find with some online searching 3 other versions of this painting. In the Malmö Konstmuseum is a nice version attributed to Frans Floris I, and dated ca. 1560. It is some 143 by 112 cm (and not 14,3 by 11,2 as Wikimedia Commons mistakenly claims).

Another version, attributed to Michiel Coxie (a regular on this blog the last few weeks), can be found in the Sydney University Museum. The only images I found were from some university publication pdf, and no dimensions were listed.

Finally, the RKD lists a third version, attributed to Coxie (and earlier described as "manner of Frans Floris I"), also without dimensions, which was in the private collection of Dr. Franz Josef Fröhlich, Würzburg. Despite being in a German private collection, it isn't the same as the one for sale now (this one and the Malmö one have a more "decent" Eve, while the one for sale and the Sydney one only provide Adam with a fig leaf).

I don't consider the one for sale to be significantly inferior to the other versions (and the estimated price reflects this), but would be interested to know why Christie's doesn't mention or accept either of the two common attributions and simply chooses "Antwerp School" (correct, but boringly cautious). The estimate seems about right, I can't see this painting making much more, considering the prices genuine and certain Floris or Coxie paintings make. UPDATE: not sold.

Master of the Prodigal Son or Michiel Coxie?

At Lemoine, a work attributed to the "Master of the Prodigal Son",  a well-known and productive master from Antwerp from around 1550, at the height of the Antwerp Mannerism. The estimate for this "Annunciation" seems rather high, at 12,000 to 18,000 Euro, but the work is interesting nevertheless. The basic composition, with a red four-poster on the right, Maria reading, a door or window in the centre, and the Angel on the left, can be found many times in many variations, going back to examples by Van der Weyden and Memling.

The painting takes many elements from the "Annunciation" by Joos van Cleve in the collection of the Met Museum, which is vastly superior of course.

The above version was sold at Bonham's in 2011 for 6,400 Euro. It was attributed to the Workshop of Michiel Coxie, and is a less refined version of the one for sale here. Many elements are nearly identical, some (like the Holy Ghost, but also the hands of the Virgin or the window in the back) are quite different though, but despite this it is unmistakeably (inspired by) the same composition.

The work for sale doesn't seem to be good enough to be by the Master of the Prodigal Son though, so the estimate is probably too high. Interesting, quite good, but not good enough.