Early Netherlandish masterpiece for sale at Freeman's

Freeman's, in the USA, sells on 27 February 2019 a "Master of the Embroidered Foliage" Virgin and child, estimated at $150,000 to $250,000.

Which is very, very cheap for such a rare and beautiful work.

The description of the work is absolutely spot-on, the provenance complete for the last 100 years, the identification made by Friedländer...

This Master is, despite his restrictions and his dependency on older artists, one of the great unknowns of the Flemish painting, together with people like the Master of the Baroncelli Portraits. It has been postulated that there was not one Master, but a studio of multiple followers of Van der Weyden who all worked in a very similar style, and who now all get grouped together as "Master of the Embroidered Foliage".

A small Adam and Eve (50 by 33) was sold at Christie's in 2012 for 1.4 million Euro (against a 100K estimate!). The next most recent sale of a quasi-certain work by the master goes back to 1982 though, when a Virgin and Child at Sotheby's was already estimated at $160,000.

Boston

Munich

So this is an exceedingly rare work of genuine high quality. It's a partial copy after Van der Weyden, his beautiful Virgin and Child with Saint Luke. The original is kept in Boston, and three full copies are located in Bruges, Saint Petersburg, and Munich. The Munich copy is said to may have been painted by the Master of the Embroidered Foliage as well.

Comparing the Munich version and the one for sale gives an idea of the artistic merits of both. The Munich version is perhaps slightly more refined, but the difference is minimal. And the one for sale, which was intended as a stand alone work from the start (and this isn't a fragment of a full copy) has the bonus of a new background, not the one from the original but a very Medieval looking, tapestry-like scene with dogs and a peacock on stylized grass.

"Museum quality" is an overused term, but this work has truckloads of it and should fetch at least $1 million.

UPDATE: a reader informed me that the 2012 Christie's work shown above wasa later for sale with the Gallery Jonckheere in Monaco with a different attribution. It is no longer listed on their website, but some research showed that they recatalogued it as "Aert Van den Bossche", an artist active in Brussels and Bruges from the same period, who may be the same as the Master of the Legend of Saint Barbara. Another work previously attributed to the Master of the Embroidered Foliage (a Virgin and Child in Minneapolis) has also been reattributed to Aert Van den Bossche in the past.

UPDATE 2: sold for $2,050,000! Well deserved, I'm curious who bought it.

"Circle of Anthonie Palamedesz" is Follower of Francken or Lisaert

Freeman's, from the USA, sells on 23 January 2017 a "Circle of Anthonie Palamedesz" "Interior with Female Figures", estimated at $2,000 to $3,000.

It is the same composition as a painting I already discussed in April 2015; a depiction of the story of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, which goes back to a composition by (presumably) Hieronymus Francken and which was often copied, mainly by members of the Lisaert family. I will not repeat the whole story here, you can read it again at the older blog post. Although they hard to really see on this version, it is remarkable that the three paintings at the top are always different ones, as if they got a version where these weren't painted already and just had a description "add some depictions of naughty or terrible stories like Lot and his Daughters".

This one here is a bit more naive and slightly more modern perhaps than the other ones, and the estimate seems about right (although the painting is damaged and will cost a bit to get right again). But the attribution is quite a way off. 

The most decent Adam and Eve ever...

Freeman's, from the United States, sells on 23 January 2017 a "Flemish School, early 17th century" Fall of Men, an oil on copper estimated at $2,000 to $3,000.

The painting is firmly in the style of Jan Brueghel or Roeland Savery, well-painted but not good enough to be by either.

What is remarkable about this version though is that Adam and Eve have been at some point heavily censured, making them probably the most clothed Fall of Men ever. It kind of defeats the whole point of the story, which is that until then they were innocent and unaware that they should be ashamed of their nudity. It looks to me as if they have been completely overpainted, not just some clothes added, as e.g. the snake is much better painted than the faces of the two protagonists as well.

The price is probably about right, but the art historical value may be bigger, as rare evidence of what happens to taste and prudity over the ages. If it was my painting, I would get it researched (to see what remains beneath the clothes), but not removed, as it is more interesting with the clothes than without in this case.

"Leiden School" is copy of Caspar Netscher

Freeman's from Philadelphia sells on 16 June 2015 a "Leiden School, late 18th century" painting of an "elegant lady in an interior", estimated at $2,500 to $3,500.

The composition is an oft-copied one by Caspar Netscher (1639-1684). The original can be found in the Kunstmuseum Hamburg. While his work is related to the Leiden School (Dou, Metsu, ...), he worked most of his life in Deventer and especially The Hague. This painting, a typical musical scene, is one of his most celebrated works. The copy lacks finesse and detail though, and has condition issues, so it may struggle to meet its estimate. UPDATE: sold for $2,600 after costs, so slightly below the lower estimate without costs.