The Prodigal Son

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 6 September 2021 a "Flemish School, 18th century" "Return of the Prodigal Son", estimated at 3,000 to 5,000 Euro. 

This large work (105 by 167 cm) actually depicts the complete story of the Prodigal Son in multiple scenes (a system much more in use in the 15th and early 16th century, but completely out of fashion in the 17th and 18th century). The work may have been somewhat cut down, especially the right side seems to be incomplete. 

It is dated 1617, and I see no reason to disregard this date (although it could be the date of some original, with this being a later copy). The symbol between the 16 and the 17 may be a monogram, but I'm unable to decipher it. 

And speaking of originals, this work seems to be based on some engravings after David Vinckboons (1576-1631), which again ties in with the date on the painting. 

The story starts bottom left, with the departure of the prodigal son. 

It is unclear what the original may be for this depiction: this 1608 engraving after Vinckboons (found at the Rijksmuseum site) certainly shares some elements (like the flowing cape of the son). 

But other elements like the horse seem to come from a Nicolaes de Bruyn engraving (again via the Rijksmuseum), without an exact date (probably 1600-1630, so within the range of the painting's date). 

The story then jumps to bottom right, with the prodigal son wasting his money on booze and women. This part seems incomplete. 

It again has no clear, one-on-one counterpart in engravings I could find, but the main source of inspiration again seems to be Vinckboons (via the Rijksmuseum). 

A small detail in both works is the inn keeper adding the drinks to the tab (the proverbial "Kerfstok" in Dutch). 

Here as well a Nicolaes de Bruyn engraving may be an alternative source of inspiration (found at the Boijmans Van Beuningen site).

In the third scene (upper left), the son has spent all his money and is chased away by the women at the inn. And this image is taken directly from the same engraving by Vinckboons as in scene 2, with the woman in the window throwing beer (or emptying the chamber pot?) on him. 

The fourth scene depicts the son as a swineherd. 

This one seems based on Vinckboons as well, although the depiction is pretty generic.

And the fifth and final scene is the return home, with the embrace with his father and behind them the slaughter of the fat ox.

And that one as well is close to a Vinckboons I found at the Rijksmuseum site.

Perhaps the painting for sale is based on an unknown Vinckboons painting, or perhaps the artist tried to create a singl work incorporating all main aspects of the story from some Vinckboons' prints (and perhaps others), is hard to tell. But the result is an intriguing, original work, where I have little reason to doubt the 1617 date. It should very easily surpass the estimate.  

"Flemish School, late 16th": follower of the Master of the View of Saint Gudula?

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 11 November 2019  a "Flemish School, late 16th century" three scenes from the Passion, estimated at 5,000 to 7,000 Euro.

These three paintings (probably wings of a polyptych, perhaps surrounding a centre image in wood sculpture) are now placed together in one frame. The overall size is only 48 by 61 cm, so this was probably intended for private devotion or a small side chapel, not a main altar piece (it might have been the altar piece for a small parish church, but then the quality seems too good). They seem older than the auction house thinks, but have suffered somewhat through the ages.

Looking for possible artists, I came across the Master of the View of Saint Gudula, a painter working in Brussels between 1480 and 1500. The Saint Gudula is the Cathedral of Brussels.

Especially the left panel, the Flagellation, is rather similar, both the architectural background and the placement and attitudes of the figures.

The RKD lists two versions, both for sale in 1950, 2 Both have similar dimensions as well, with a height of 46 cm.

The works for sale are not by the same hand as the Gudula panels, but the influence seems clear, and I would date them only slightly later, between 1500 and 1525. As such, they are rather cheaply priced, even taking into account the damage.

UPDATE: sold for 22,000 Euro!

Reusing elements from engravings

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 29 April 2019 a "Flemish School, 17th century" Stoning of Saint Stephen, estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 Euro.

The work is not really impressive and looks likely to be based on an engraving. And while I haven't found a complete engraving this may be taken from yet, at least the central figure can be traced directly.

It comes from a work by Jacopo Palma, better known as Palma Vecchio (1480-1528), engraved by Aegidius Sadeler around 1600, which I found at the Rijksmuseum site.

As is obvious from the above comparison, the painter of the work for sale wasn't really a great talent, technically able to copy poses, but out of his depth when he had to create e.g. the face of the saint. This leads me to believe that the other figures also are copied after engravings. The value of the work is about 1,000 Euro. 

Flemish demons

Two Flemish paintings involving demons, witches and the like.

The first is at Horta, Belgium, on 25 March 2019: a Temptation of Saint Anthony, "Flemish School 17th century, old attribution to David Ryckaert III", estimated at 1,000 to 1,500 Euro.

It contains many of the typical elements of such paintings, as can be seen in the works of Teniers, Ryckaert, or Saftleven. We have a demon riding a pig, and carrying a type of bucket or small cauldron (referring again to witchcraft) as his helmet. There is a horse's skull, another skull with a tail (or is it a blonde braid?), and at the bottom left another skulled demon; and there is the fiddler, a strange combination of a a commedia dell'arte dwarflike figure with a chicken foot. That last figure seems to be the most original, I can find many musicians in such Temptation paintings, but none similar to this one.

The painting seems to be an original composition or a copy after an unknown work, as I haven't found a better painted similar work nor an engraving it may be based on. The estimate is probably about right, as the topic is always popular and intriguing, even if the work itself is not of the highest quality.

The second is Westport, USA, on 31 March 2019: the Gates of Hell, "Flemish School 16th or 17th century", estimated at $1,500 to $2,500 but in a very poor condition.

This one is harder to decipher. It has elements of a Gates of Hell, but no Jesus nor humans. It has elements of a Witches sabbath, but the most obvious "witch" has wings, which is not common for depictions of witches and points more to a demon or fallen angel. It has elements of a Saint Anthony (the three headed dog strongly reminds me of a similar one in a Temptation by Teniers), but lacks the central figure. It seems likely that the painting is incomplete, even possibly missing parts between the two planks, but also on the left side and the bottom.

The work reminds me most of the demonic visions by Cornelis Saftleven, but isn't refined enough to be by him. Still, it is a very unusual painting, full of originality, and worthy of a thorough restoration.

UPDATE: sold for $5,000!

Horta part 4: an unattributed version of a Frans Francken and Abraham Govaerts painting

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 25 February 2019 a "17th century Flemish School" Flight to Egypt, estimated at 3,500 to 5,000 Euro.

It is a good version of a painting by Frans Francken II and Abraham Govaerts, known from a sale at Christie's in 1995.

That version was signed FFF (Frans Francken Fecit), and this one seems to bear something resembling a signature at the rock on the right (I think I can see an F there, and then some scribbles, but they may be figments of my imagination).

This version lacks the beautiful large hat (for a while common in many Flemish and Dutch paintings), but is otherwise fairly faithful to the original. As a bonus you get a nice painting of the "Miracle of the statue" or "Miracle of the idol" (as it is more commonly known), where a "pagan" idol statue falls down when Jesus passes by. This part of the story is rarely represented in old paintings. Note the shadow of the statue, giving it a much more realistic 3D effect.

An almost identical version of this work, this time attributed only to Frans Francken II, can be found in the Uffizi (image from the RKD). The dimensions are nearly identical, but the Uffizi one is on copper, while the Horta one is said to be on panel (wood). So imagine if you buy this, you can casually drop that there are only two versions of this painting known (to me), and the other one is in the Uffizi... Impressive!

 The value seems about right, seen up close the work isn't very well painted.

UPDATE: sold for 2,800 Euro.

Two early "Saint Jerome in the wilderness" versions

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 25 February 2019 two paintings with "Saint Jerome in the wilderness".

The first is described as "Bruges School, ca. 1520" and is estimated at 5,000 to 7,000 Euro.

It is indeed very comparable to works attributed to Adriaen Isenbrant (ca. 1485-1551) or his circle. The first image is a poor reproduction of a painting from the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the second is an "attributed to" from an auction (no idea which though). The description and estimate for this one seem about right.

However, I then found one even closer match, at Karl & Faber auction house, where it is described as "Joachim Patinir".  That one was sold for 8,100 Euro. This one is clearly more of a match than the Isenbrandt ones (the left hand opening the habit, the deep "V" fold between the legs, the way the red mantle is draped over the tree...), so perhaps this one should be recategorised as "Follower of Patinir" as well?

The second is said to be "Flemish School, ca. 1600", with an estimate of 4,000 to 6,000 Euro. It seems to be older though, and looked at first closer to the works of Joachim Patinir.

The main figure turns out to be from a painting by Lucas Gassel (or a follower), known from a sale at Sotheby's in 2006 where it fetched £10,000. It also returns in an anonymous Flemish painting from the second half of the 16th century in the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht (via RKD).

Strange enough, another, almost identical version was sold at Christie's in 2012, but this time as the work of Patinir!

But it also has other Patinir elements, e.g. in the remarkable altar or shrine in front of Saint Jerome. It shares many characteristics with one in a painting sold at Dorotheum in April 2018 for 31,000 Euro, and which was described as Workshop of Patinir.

The Saint Jerome by a follower of Patinir, from the Houston Museum, has also such a shrine. It also has a similar cat with nine tails (or whatever the name is for that flagellation tool).

I think that this second Saint Jerome in the auction is dated somewhat too late, and is underestimated a bit. It should be worth 6,000 to 8,000 Euro instead.

UPDATE: first one unsold, second one sold for 4,000 Euro only.

UPDATE 2: first one again for sale at Horta on 17 June 2019, with a halved estimate of 2,500 to 3,500 Euro. 

Unidentified Gerard de la Vallée work again for sale: a look at the paintings shown in it

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 25 February 2019 a "Flemish School, 17th century" Saint Cecilia, estimated at 7,000 to 10,000 Euro.

I have already at length commented on this work when it was for sale at Carlo Bonte in May 2017, so I'll not dwell on the presumed authorship of Gérard de la Vallée again.But at the time, I didn't pay attention to the different paintings and texts visible in the work, even though that is often one of the most interesting aspects of such works.

On the left, we have a few books on the table, including one opened music book, but this is too blurry to make out any further. Above it, the pedestal of the table organ has an inscription which is impossible to decipher, but where individual characters can be read. I presume that, if it is supposed to be a real inscription, it contains a date (a chronograph?) or an indication of a Bible verse, as it seems to have too many Roman numeral characters in it for a standard text. It starts, I think, with "X LURII" (or LURN?), and the first line again ends with X and has an L in it. The second line seems to read "X  D V N D L  L ..."? It could be that the Xs are just decoration at the start and end of the lines though.  Even so, I have no idea what it is supposed to say (a dedication? The name of the organ builder? The signature of the painter? Random letters?)

The wings of the organ show the resurrected Christ defeating death, and a crucifixion. Above the crucifixion is a text I again can't decipher, even though it looks to be a "real" text. The top is "N S G(?)", second line is "M S I(?) O)", third line is "H ? T T", fourth line is very unclear but seems to end with an A, and I think there is a final fifth line as well. The two paintings are rather typical Flemish productions of the first half of the 17th century, with a crucifixion reminiscent of the compositions of Rubens or Jordaens (though with a less muscled Jesus).

The large painting at the back shows angels playing music. Again, I couldn't find a clear origin for this work, but it seems to be inspired by work by Rubens, Frans Francken or even Peeter de Witte. The cello or bass playing angel on the right seems a rather common theme. With Rubens, it is on the left, but that's because it is a modello, and the finished tapestry has the instrument on the right. The Francken III (with Cornelis de Bailleur) is remarkable as it is also a Saint Cecilia, with the saint in a rather similar position; but here the musician angels are not depicted on a painting, but as really there.

The work for sale also has a rather nondescript common Virgin and Child sculpture in the back, then a sleeping figure which from a distance looked like a sleeping child Jesus but on closer inspection may be another figure as well, a Cupid or an unidentified woman, and on the right a more interesting portrait of a couple with a dove, presumably a wedding portrait.

All in all, no recognisable works, but a variety of subjects and styles, which all seem to date to around 1630 or slightly later.

UPDATE: sold for 5,000 Euro.