"Follower of Pieter Pourbus" is follower of Gillis Mostaert instead

Vassy & Jalenques, from France, sells on 14 March 2020 a "Flemish School, ca. 1600, follower of Pieter Pourbus" Adam and Eve, estimated at 2,000 to 3,000 Euro.

The work doesn't resemble the paintings by Pieter Pourbus really, and some searching shows that it is based on a work by Gillis Mostaert instead.

This engraving by Jan Sadeler (from the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum) shows the same central element, and clearly attributes the "invention" of the composition to Gillis Mostaert. As both artists are almost contemporaneous, there is no reason to doubt this.

I don't know if the changes to format and the animals depicted within are due to the imagination of the copy-painter, or if a version existed with this format as well. It may even be that this is the actual original, there isn't much material to compare with (most extant Mostaert paintings are rather different busy city or village views). The work for sale certainly is good, but probably not good enough to be an original.

Even so, it should not have any trouble getting the estimate if people see it for what it is.

Wannenes 29 November 2017 part 5: quick messages

A final post with some leftovers from the series on the 29 November 2017 Wannenes auction, as I don't have the time to write or research more on these.

First is a "Seventeenth century Dutch painter" which was previously attributed to Frans Pourbus the Elder. I think it is closer to Frans Pourbus the Younger. Estimate is only 600 to 800 Euro, so a bargain!

The last painting that caught me eye was a "16th-17th century Flemish painter" Ecce Homo, estimated at only 200 to 500 Euro. It has a spectacular frame (looks like marble but seems to be in wood), and a decent painting in it.

 It looks to me more similar to Spanish examples, a follower of  Murillo perhaps. But it seems cheap with such a frame.

Nice collection at Galerie Moderne (part 3)

Galerie Moderne, from Belgium, sells on 14 November a 2017 a nice collection of mainly 16th-century Flemish paintings.

Lot 206 is a Vision of Saint Jerome, by an "Anonymous, 16th century" artist, estimated at 6,000 to 8,000 Euro. It is a smallish panel of only 38 by 31 cm.

The work is clearly Flemish, but is otherwise quite unusual. It combines the typical elements of a "Vision of Saint Jerome" and a "Penitent Jerome" (saint Jerome beating his chest with a stone in his hands, with the lion nearby), with typical elements from a "Last Judgment" (the top half). I haven't found any other example where these two are brought together.

The image of Christ in the clouds (with one or two raised arms and bare torso), with Mary on the left and John the Baptist on the right, can e.g. be seen in the above examples (details) by Crispijn Van den Broeck and certainly the bottom one, the Last Judgment by Pieter Pourbus, from Bruges, ca. 1550.

I have a feeling that I must know the artist, especially the Saint Jerome seems familiar, but it escapes me. At any rate, the estimate is reasonable or perhaps a bit high from a purely artistic quality point of view, but as an art historical rarity it has some extra value.

UPDATE: sold for 7,000 Euro, mid-estimate.

Lot 209 is an "Anonymous, 16th - 17th century" Virgin and Child in a landscape, estimated at 5,000 to 7,000 Euro.  It is a kind of non-descript Biblical scene, which may be described as a Rest on the Flight to Egypt, or a Maria Lactans, or simply a Virgin and Child of course.

Similar works have been made by many Flemish artists in the 16th and early 17th century, but this one seems to be 16th century. They often feature either a book in the lap of Mary, or a basket with cloth on the ground, or (as here) both. This can e.g. also be seen in works of the Master of the Female Half-Lengths, but the closest comparison bear the works of Barend van Orley; not really one specific painting, but the general style and elements from his works (three examples shown).

The work for sale is probably from around 1550 and should easily fetch the estimate.

UPDATE: sold for 10,000 Euro, double the estimate, worth it!

Tomorrow: more works from the same sale!

Bruges school, ca. 1550: Pieter Pourbus?

Brussels Art Auctions, from Belgium obviously, sells on 14 March 2017 a "Bruges School, ca. 1550" portrait of a lady, estimated at 7,000 to 10,000 Euro.

It is a very fine portrait, much better than most of these "School of" works, and I wonder if it isn't by the master of the Bruges Portrait school of the time, Pieter Pourbus the Elder.

While the hands and arms are perhaps not of the finest quality (though still very good, and perhaps overpainted somewhat in the past?), the head is very accurate and compelling. Very few painters from Bruges from the period would have been able to produce such a realistic, convincing work.

Pieter Pourbus (1523-1584) is the first of the Pourbus family to become famous; descendants include Frans Pourbus the Elder and the Younger, and Pieter the Younger. He was  Dutch but worked almost whole his life in Bruges. The paintings which are attributed to him are of varying quality, but some of the better ones are closely related to the composition we have here.

A very good portrait was sold by Christie's in 2006 for $132,000.

But on the other hand we also have much more schematised works like the portrait of Jacquemyne Buuck from the Groeningemuseum.

Benson, portrait of Anne Stafford

Pourbus, Portrait of a Lady, Metropolitan Museum

The only other painter from the period and region who in my opinion was capable of such good portraits was Ambrosius Benson, but the work for sale more closely resembles Pourbus in my opinion.


But whoever painted it, 7,000 Euro seems cheap to me and it should be worth closer to 20,000 Euro, also considering its relatively large size of 95 by 68 cm (large for the type of painting that is).

UPDATE: note how a very similar type of bonnet can be seen in a ca. 1550 small Pieter Pourbus painting from the National Trust building "Ascott".

"Vigilius of Aytta": good copy of a Frans Pourbus I

Vanderkindere, from Belgium,  sells on 23 November 2016 a "Flemish School, 16th century" portrait of Aytta van Zwichem, better known as Vigilius, estimated at 400 to 600 Euro.

It is a copy of or closely related to a Frans Pourbus I painting now in the Galleria di Palazzo Rosso in Genoa.

Another portrait of Aytta painted by Frans Pourbus I (ca. 1570) is from the Louvre.

The version for sale is probably not by Pourbus, but is made by a fairly good painter anyway. It looks somewhat modern, perhaps because it is slightly rubbed. But the estimate is way too low for a 16th century portrait of this quality, even when it is a copy, and it should be worth 1,500 to 2,000 Euro.

UPDATE: a reader sent me a link to another, even closer version of the Pourbus portrait, now in the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf.  That version is listed as a copy after Pourbus, and was estimated in the past (before 2002) as worth 2,000€. I prefer the one for sale actually.

UPDATE 2: sold for 1,800 Euro, right in the middle of my estimate!

"Antwerp Master" is Circle of Frans Pourbus the Younger

Plückbaum, from Germany, sells on 29 October 2016 as lot 1499 an "Antwerp Master,  late 16th c., ca. 1600" portrait of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, estimated at 1,600 Euro.

The portrait is a  weaker version of the many portraits painted of the duke by his court painter, Frans Pourbus the Younger. While not comparable to the best of the pourbus portraits, it still is a good example and may be described at the very least as Circle of Pourbus.

Sotheby's sold this year a Studio portrait of Vincenzo Gonzaga for $37,500 . It was better than the one here though.

Looking at the picture, it seems to be one of the later portraits of the duke, so closer to 1610 probably. It should be worth 3,000 to 4,000 Euro.

UPDATE: not sold, contrary to what I expected. Perhaps people think it is a much later copy?

Follower of Frans Pourbus II

At Rops, 12 April 2015, they sell a "Lady with a lace collar", "old painting" estimated at 200 to 300 Euro. The back looks a bit dodgy, but overall it seems to be a real old painting, not a recent fake, as far as one can tell from a picture. UPDATE: sold for 550 Euro.


The style is very reminiscent of the portraits by Frans Pourbus II, but the quality isn't there to attribute it directly to him (even taking into account possible restaurations and overpaint, e.g. in the very bland hair). But the way the lace is painted, the face, and the overall feeling of the portrait (which has probably been changed in size sometime in the past, as the composition is unbalanced now) clearly show his influence.

A similar but real Pourbus portrait (the difference is quite obvious) sold at Sotheby's for more than 500,000 Euro in 2014.

This "Circle of Pourbus" was sold at Bonhams in 2012 for £4,625. Another possible influence is Paulus Moreelse, who painted portraits at the same time and in the same style, but again this clearly isn't a real Moreelse. But whether you want to put it as follower of one or the other, it still is a cheap example of decent quality of this type of portrait and artist. Whether it will improve with some cleaning is a guess though.