"Follower of Brueghel" in 2018, "attributed to Jakob Grimmer" now, but still a copy after Hans Bol

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 14 September 2019 an "attributed to Jakob Grimmer" "Parable of the Sower", estimated at 30,000 Euro.

The same work was for sale last year at Saarbrûcken, as a "follower of Brueghel", for 900 Euro. I then wrote a blog post about it, explaining that it is not the Parable of the Sower but the Parable of the Tares (the Sower is about indiscriminately sowing and includes no devil or sleeping men, the Tares is about "But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.", and the "enemy" is later explained to be the Devil).

More importantly, I showed that the work is a copy after an engraving by Hans Bol from 1574. It seems unlikely that Jakob Grimmer would have copied this engraving, and the work is not good enough to be by him either (e.g. the cloudscapes by Grimmer are one of the best parts of his work in many cases, but here the sky is rather boring). While Grimmer sometimes has rather simplistic work, they still show a lot more skill than this copy. The estimate here seems way too high.

This isn't the only seriously overestimated work in this auction though.

This "Workshop or School of Rubens" Magdalene was already overpriced at Hampel in 2017 (15,000 Euro, no sale), and is still overpriced here at 12,000 Euro. It looks good on their website at first glance (with the rather small default image Hargesheimer provides), but when seen more closely, it becomes obvious that it is a poor later copy, as indicated by the Lartsite as well (scroll down to number 11). Worth 3,000 to 5,000 Euro perhaps?

They also have a "Frans Hals (workshop?)" boy with a flute, estimated at 5,000 Euro. It is a very poor copy after Hals (or at least after a follower of Hals, much better example thanks to the RKD). Worth 500 Euro instead? The same applies to another similar "Hals" estimated at 4,000 Euro.

I also seriously doubt that Rembrandt made this rather poor drawing in 1636 for his 1654 etching of "Jesus between his parents returning from the Temple" (and not a "flight into Egypt"), but if it was by Rembrandt, 3,500 Euro would be cheap.

I haven't looked in detail at all the works yet: there are many paintings with a very affordable estimate, and it may well be that there are some bargains among these. But there were very few works among the more expensive ones which seemed to be worth their estimate.

Coryn Boel is copy after Saenredam

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 22 September 2018 a "Circle of Coryn Boel" Corpora (vanitas) estimated at 2,000 Euro.

It is a copy after Jan Saenredam (after Goltzius), "An allegory on Vision (a couple of lovers)", as can be seen on this work at the RKD. As such, any attribution to the circle of a specific artist is dubious, and the estimate perhaps a bit high. I guess it is worth around 1,000 Euro instead, as it is charming from a distance but has serious problems when seen up close. No idea why Hargesheimer calls it a "corpora".

Death and the poor: copy after engraving

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 22 September 2018 a  "Dutch Master, 17th century" Death visits the poor, estimated at 600 Euro.

It is a copy after an engraving by Johannes Sadeler after a drawing by Johannes Stradanus, from ca. 1600 (info from the Rijksmuseum). Even the Latin text beneath the work is identical. As is so often the case, the existence of the engraving explains why we have a good composition but a rather poor execution. But it's a rare depiction anyway, and paintings with texts are always popular, so it shouldn't have any problem fetching the estimate.

"German or Flemish, ca. 1700 Virgin and Child" is copy after one of the most influential works ever

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on  22 September 2018 a "German / Flemish School, about 1700" Virgin and Child, estimated at 3,000 Euro.

It is a late copy of the so-called "Cambrai Madonna", an early 14th century Italian Virgin and Child which in 1450 arrived in Cambrai, in the north of France. While it is a rather typical example of the Italian (Sienese) painting of the period, it was completely new for Northern Europe, and was soon venerated as an original painting by Saint Luke (i.e. a true portrait of Mary and Jesus, not a later artistic interpretation). The cathedral where it was on display became a center of pilgrimage, and many copies of the painting were made as well. It also influenced many of the Early Netherlandish Virgin and Childs by the major masters, and as such played an important role in the development and spread of this style.

It is hard to judge when or where the version for sale was made, since this work has been copied again and again over the centuries. The estimate seems about right though, as it is a good piece of evidence of the impact of one of the most important works in art history when one considers its influence on a whole style.

Rare witness of the Reformation

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 23 September 2017 a "Flemish Master, ca 1700" "Only the Holy Bible wins", estimated at 280 Euro.

It is a depiction of the victory of the Reformation over Catholicism, and I can only find two other examples of this iconography. Considering the topic and style, I highly doubt this is Flemish and ca. 1700: at that time Protestantism was all but dead in Flanders (all followers having fled the country to the Netherlands), and the Reformation and Contra-Reformation were no longer hot topics. Much more likely is a date of ca. 1600, perhaps a bit later, and placing the work in the Netherlands or Germany.

There is one engraving with this image,  an engraving from 1552 by Huijeh Allard (?, top one) or an anonymous work from ca. 1660 (bottom one, from the Rijksmuseum, which indicates that it is a copy from a work of ca. 1560), which shows that even with the help of a little devil or demon the Catholics can't win...

The other painting showing the same imaginary scene comes from the Catharijneconvent in Utrecht, the Netherlands and is listed as Dutch, early seventeenth century. It has the same juxtaposition of the Bible, which far outweighs all the gold and jewels the Catholic Church (personified by the Pope, with a cardinal, bishop, monk, ...) can produce and liked to flaunt. In these two versions, Jesus is replaced by some Lutherans(?), and the setting is a church (also a topic of dispute between the groups).

The Catharijneconvent painting is much larger and in better condition; but considering the scarcity of this image and its historical importance (much more than its value as art), I think it is cheap and would not be surprised if this went for closer to 1,000 Euro.

UPDATE: sold for 1,200 Euro, as expected!

"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.

Another version of an Adoration I discussed earlier: workshop of Pieter Coecke

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 11 March 2017 an "Antwerp School, ca. 1520-1550" Adoration of the Magi, estimated at 20,000 Euro.

It is probably the central panel of a triptych, and is a very good example of the composition I already discussed at length in June 2015 for an auction at Sotheby's Paris.

The one offered now seems to be a very good work, not up there with the best works of Pieter Coecke perhaps, but certainly good enough to be labeled Workshop of Coecke.

Coecke, Adoration, Musée National de la Renaissance, France

Coecke, Adoration, Dorotheum sale, 2015: estimate 100,000 to 150,000 Euro

Coecke, Adoration, Museum of Troyes

A small detail like the pinkish colour of the turban-crown, while in itself not definitive evidence of who painted this, is a recurring touch in many related Coecke works.

The work was for sale at Dorotheum in April 2016, then correctly described as "Workshop of Coecke", with an estimate of 35,000 to 45,000 Euro. I wonder whether the changed description is the genuine belief of the auctioneer or seller that this isn't a Workshop of Ceocke work, or an attempt to hide the fact that this work has failed to sell less than a year ago and to present it as new on the market and a possible sleeper discovery?

In any case, the estimate seems correct, even though it has likely lost its wings.

UPDATE: a reader alerted me to the German description of this work at the auctioneer, which is a lot more elaborate and mentions the origin of this composition with Pieter Coecke, but considers this version to be somewhat more remote, hence the "Antwerp School" generic description.  So no attempts to hide anything, just another opinion or a more cautious approach, and an English description which is a lot shorter and which caused my confusion.

UPDATE 2: sold for 26,000 Euro, as expected.

The unpredictability of auctions

Offered in Maastricht on 13-16 June 2014, est. 2,000 to 3,000 Euro: not sold.

Offered at same auction house, 26-29 September 2014, est. 800 to 1,200 Euro: not sold.

Offered at same auction house, 11-14 March 2016, estimate 1,000 to 2,000 Euro: sold for 2,700 Euro.

Now for sale at Hargesheimer, Germany, 24 September 2016: estimate 800 Euro.

Art really isn't an exact science.

UPDATE: sold for 1,700 Euro. Weird...

"16th c. Flemish" is another good copy after Benson or Isenbrant

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 24 September 2016 a "Flemish Master, 16th century" Virgin and Child, a rather large version (107 by 76) on panel estimated at 800 Euro.

I have already blogged about other versions of this very popular work twice (June 2015 and December 2015). This one seems to be considerably better than the first one, which sold for 1,700 Euro.

It can be compared to e.g. the Carrickfergus Madonna, from the Ulster Museum, which is given as anonymous Flemish, early 16th, and has very similar dimensions. The curtains in the work for sale seem to be a later addition, the flowers may be original (I haven't immediately found another example that shows them though). 

While it doesn't look to be an original by Benson or Isenbrandt, it is a good copy, and should easily fetch 2,000 Euro or more.

Meanwhile, at Hampel (also from Germany), you can buy on 22 September 2016 another version, attributed to the School of Isenbrant and of similar dimensions, estimated at 24,000 to 28,000 Euro. While it has a much better background, the Virgin and Child are not really superior to the one at Hargesheimer (e.g; the hands are worse at Hampel), and it seems seriously overpriced to me.

UPDATE: the 800 Euro Hargesheimer one sold for 6,500 Euro, and the 24,000 Euro Hampel one remained unsold. 

Cheap Flemish "Saint Jerome" is based on Titian (plus a copy after Correggio)

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 24 September a "Flemish Master, first half of the 17th century"  Saint Jerome, a 93 by 121 cm large canvas estimated at 400 Euro.

While the work is damaged, it is a well-painted work and an absolute bargain at that price. The Jerome is a close copy of the same saint painted by Titian in 1575, now in the Escorial. The painting for sale is somewhat more line-based and less colour-based than the Titian, and made by a good artist but not by someone of the calibre of the Ventian master. Whether the additions to the left are inventions by the copiist or are evidence that the Titian was originally larger is not clear to me at the moment. The somewhat weird way the lion is cut off in the Titian may point to the latter possibility, which would make this work a lot more interesting (depending on how many copies of the full Titian are still around).

The work for sale could do with a thorough cleaning, a lot is happening in the background that is barely visible anymore (e.g. the two figures in a boat on the left, and a lion at the middle bottom). It should be worth at least 1,000 Euro without even guessing at the artist or knowing the exact relation to the original Titian work.

UPDATE: sold for 800 Euro, double the  estimate.

Oh, and at the same sale there is an "Antwerp Master, middle 17th century" mother and child, a small (31 by 34) but attractive work estimated at only 400 Euro. It turns  out to be a copy after "La Zingarella" by Correggio, a ca. 1517 work now in the National Museum in Naples.

UPDATE: sold for 700 Euro.

Circle of Palma Vecchio or much later?

Hargesheimer, Germany, sells on 19 September 2015 a "Venetian School, Master of the 17th/18th Century" Holy Family with the Baptist and Saint Lucy, 70 by 96 cm large and estimated at 500 Euro.

It is a very nice painting, and the only reason I can see that the estimate is so ridiculously low is that they are afraid that the work is a lot later than it looks to be.

Purely from the style, I would put it in the first half of the 16th century, somewhere close to Palma Vecchio (example pictured), and estimate it at the very least at 5,000 Euro, if not a whole lot more (if someone with a better eye for the styles of the many great Venetian painters of the period can pinpoint the painter).

Among the many holy families that are for sale, and the many Venetian-style paintings, this is one of the best I have seen apart from the really expensive ones in major auctions. Perhaps it is a copy after a painting I can't find (or which is lost), but even then it should be worth a few thousand euro's. Maybe the image hides the problems with the painting, which is according to the short description heavily repainted and still needs restoring. While I can see that it has lost some depth and colour brilliance, the problems don't seem that major.

If not Palma Vecchio, then rhe artist who seems to come closest to this work is Bonifazio Veronese (1487-1553), student of Palma Vecchio.

 The Joseph (the right side figure) in the above work from the Louvre by him has a nearly identical pose to the one on the work for sale, with the same compositorial device of putting his foot flat on the bottom of the picture. Although the same device has been used by Palma Vecchio in a Sacra Conversazione or the example given above, and probably by others.

His Holy Family from the Pinacoteca of the Vatican also has some remarkable similarities, in general and in details like the treatment of the faces or the sheep on the left.

UPDATE: sold for ... 150,000 Euro!!! 

Circle of Denys Calvaert

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 19 September 2015 an "Italo-Flemish School" mid-17th century painting of Saint Margaret and the Dragon, a small (20 by 15cm) oil on copper with an estimate of 850 Euro.

A very similar composition, same size and materials, but with a much more rudimentary painting technique, was sold as "Circle of Denys Calvaert" by Christie's in 2009, and fetched 3,000 Euro. As Denys Calvaert was the archetypical Italo-Flemish painter, the currect description is spot on.

The one for sale now shows a full-length Margaret instead of the half-length one at Christie's, which makes for a better composition (the dragon now seems like a leashed wild animal, instead of a pet like in the older one) and the painting has much more detailing (clothing, but also in the dragon), but isn't a really very good painting, and doesn't seem to be a real Calvaert. Even so, the current estimate seems very low compared to what the previous worse one fetched.

Post-auction thoughts at Hargesheimer: Moeyaert and Cittadini

Recently I said that I had placed my first bid on a painting. As the auction is now finished, I can give you the details.

It was the above portrait, for sale at Hargesheimer in Dusseldorf with an estimate of 280 Euro. Described as "Portrait of a Young Man" from a German / Flemish painter, ca. 1500, it was in fact a portrait (copy of a known type, and recognisable by his Tudor Rose pictured above) of the English king Henry VII, and worth a lot more for that reason. Sadly, I wasn't the only one that recognised this, and it turned out to be one of the star lots of the auction (relative to its estimate), finishing at 3,000 Euro instead, which was a bit more than I had bid...

As I was bidding on a painting in this auction, I didn't want to draw too much attention to it. Sadly, it had a few moderately interesting works in it which would have made nice blog posts otherwise. So, after the fact, some other works from that auction!

This work was sold as a "Birth of Christ", Flemish School of the 17th to 19th century, estimated at 1200 Euro. It looked to me like a copy after a better work, since the composition and colouring were quite accomplished but the faces and other details were rather crude (although the ox is endearing).

Some searching led me to a work attributed to the circle of Claes Cornelisz Moeyaert which was sold a few years ago. The girl in the front centre looks like she has been copied straight out of a work of Joachim Beuckelaer though. The one now for sale remained unsold.

In the same auction, there was a work by an Italian Master, 17th or 18th century, depicting "beggars seeking help at the roadside", estimated at a very reasonable 700 Euro.

It was at auction in 2010 at Hargesheimer as well as a work by Pier Francesco Cittadini "Il Milanese", depicting "Fleeing the Plague", and estimated at 1,200 Euro. Strange how in the meantime it lost its attribution, title and apparently frame. Perhaps someone bought it, researched it, and discovered that he didn't buy a bargain Cittadini but an anonymous work of decent quality but not good enough to be by Cittadini? Anyway, this one as well, just like an alarming lot of paintings in this sale, remained unsold. The only one I did post about before the sale here ended up very well though!

Followup on a post of 2 March: original artist found!

In a post some weeks ago, I discussed a painting where reproductions were for sale already but I couldn't find anything about the original. A reader has now sent me a link to an engraving by Sadeler after Stradanus, showing the same image.

I doubt that the painting now for sale is actually the original Stradanus painting, the quality isn't good enough and it isn't reversed compared to the engraving, but it is nice to find some more info on this, and the probable name of the painter of the original work. The copy is for sale about right now, at Hargesheimer. The confusion whether the work was Italian or Flemish is also understandable with an artist like Stradanus.

UPDATE: it sold for a whopping 9,500 Euro, against an estimate of only 1,200 Euro. Considering that it is most likely a copy after an engraving, and not an original, this seems a very steep price.

Copy in the Victoria and Albert, original now for sale?

Something strange going on. At Hargesheimer in Dusseldorf, they sell on 21 March an "Italian Master, 16th century or earlier depiction of the "Beweinung Christi", a Lamentatio, with a reserve price of 1,200 Euro.

The exact same image is for sale at art reproduction sites like Bridgeman or Allposters as "Entombment of Christ", a supposedly Flemish School 15th century work in the Victoria and Albert Museum, with the addition "Villabranca panel". I can't find it in the V&A collection, but there has to be some explanation for this. For what it's worth, the panel seems more Italian than Flemish, and Hargesheimer seems a very reliable auction house, so I don't expect any foul play on their part. Oh, and 1,200 Euro really is cheap as chips for this work. UPDATE: sold for 9,500 Euro!

By the way, in the same auction they have a "Portrait of a bishop". It is a Saint Blaise, if anyone is looking for a portrait of him to decorate their home... You can recognise him by the typical crossed candles!  Not my cup of tea, but it's fun to identify paintings more precisely, whether it is the subject or the artist.