Nice provincial Adoration of the Magi

Loeckx, from Belgium, sells on 17 January 2017 an "Antwerp School" Adoration of the Magi, estimated at 300 to 600 Euro.

It is a simple version of the typical Adoration of the Magi we know from artists like Pieter Coecke van Aalst. It is made by a mediocre artist or copyist, but probably in the same period (ca. 1540-1570) and region, and is a very cheap opportunity to get such a painting.

The Virgin is painted a lot better, and may have been done by a different hand, or perhaps simply more time was spent on the central figure while the surroundings were much more rushed.

It reminds me of the works of anonymous masters like the so-called  "Pseudo-Blesius" (first image) and the very closely related composition by the Master of the Von Groote Adoration (second image, from RKD), but is obviously of lesser quality.

It may well be that the painting is a copy after an existing composition, but I couldn't find a real match for it so far. It may fetch up to 1,000 Euro I suppose.

"A Deleeuw" is Alexis de Leeuw

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 17 January 2017 a "A. Deleeuw, Belgian School" pair of winter landscapes, estimated at 1,000 to 1,500 Euros.

The auction house probably was fooled by the space in the name: the artist is Alexis De Leeuw (1848-1883), a Belgian artist best known for this kind of commercial but better-than-average work.

A comparable pair (slightly bigger and in better condition, and perhaps somewhat better painted as well) was sold at Christie's London in 2008 for £5,250, so the current estimate seems to be too low, probably because they couldn't identify the artist.

I would guess that they will go for 2,000 Euro instead.

Another version of the Flemish Charity (now without text); follower of Anthonie Palamedesz

In May 2016, I posted about a Flemish Charity, an interesting work (mainly because of the texts on it) which turned out to be a common theme of the grandparents living in poverty and being rejected by their children in favour of their grandchildren (and their own luxurious life); this is commonly described as "Poor parents, Rich children" in the literature.

Another version, this time without the texts, is now available on 17 January 2017 at Nice enchères, in France, without an estimate.

It looks to be a copy after a better painting, so should probably be worth 500 Euro at most. But it's interesting to get another example, and to note that this story was well known enough in its time to exist without the explanatory panels as well. 

The work seems to be based on a composition by Anthonie Palamedesz. The RKD lists one possible original, and one clear copy of comparable quality to the one for sale here.

When researching this one, I also found an engraving of a painting I showed in my previous blog post about this. It is attributed to Claes Jansz. Visscher II (1612-1652), after Vinckboons. It has a long accompanying text, which I'm not going to transcribe and translate now, as it is in Latin.

This again led me to another image by Visscher, from the Rijksmuseum.

And finally to the above by Jacob de Gheyn II, which turns out to be the basis for my mystery composition from the first blog post, but with some bits added and made clearer (e.g. the old man on the left turns out to be Death). The Text (in Dutch) is different on both works. The engraving sadly doesn't note the original painter...

"Jules" is Jules Montigny

Horta, from Brussels, sells on 17 January 2017 a "Jules" Woman in a Field, estimated at 500 to 700 Euro.

The signature and style point to Jules Montigny (1840-1899), Belgian painter of the romanticized farming life. This work is somewhat unusual, as most of his works show farm animals in the field.

A similar drawing was sold last year at Delcampe (hence the ugly watermark across the image) for 80 Euro. Montigny paintings got for 400 to 10,000 Euro, but this one is not among his large or most detailed ones. However, as it is less romantic, more naturalistic (in content) and impressionistic (in style) than many others, I can still see this one going for 1,000 Euro.

Follower of Leytens or Van Heil

Horta, from Brussels, sells on 17 January 2017 a "Flemish School, 17th century, in the style of Joos de Momper" Massacre of the Innocents, estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 Euro.

I really can't see much influence of Momper here, the work is made by a follower of Gijsbrecht Leytens or Daniel van Heil, as evidenced in the typical contorted, snow-clad trees. As can be seen in the above Massacre of the Innocents by Leytens, it lacks their quality though, and the estimate seems very optimistic. I can't see this going for more than 5,000 Euro.

UPDATE: unsold, and now again for sale at Horta on 24 April 2017 with a much more realistic estimate of 4,000 to 6,000 Euro. 

Follow-up on one of my earliest posts: Aert Mytens now attributed to Francesco Furini instead

In January 2015, I made a lengthy post about a fine and cheap Aert Mytens painting for sale then at Bonham's for an estimated 2,000 to 2,700 Euro. I followed this two weeks later with another long and highly speculative post more firmly linking the painting to Mytens, and connecting it with a work by Caravaggio.

The work was then sold for £1,750, below estimate and way below my estimate.

I now by chance came across a listing at Priory Fine Art who sold the painting for £1,900 in April 2015. So, depending on the costs of selling through Ebay, they made a small profit (well, max. 10%, which isn't too bad of course) or a small loss; but again no spectacular price.

What caught my eye was that they attributed the painting to Francesco Furini. Furini (1600-1646) was a Baroque painter from Florence. This would date the painting some 50 years after Mytens. Some Furini works are indeed quite similar to this one in a number of aspects, e.g. the sculpted appearance of the figure, but in general the Furini works seem more modern, more Italian to me than the Mytens.

I found one work by Furini which is truly comparable, as it is a Magdalen as well and also (unusual for Furini) uses the same use of background as the Mytens. While Furini may well have been influenced by the Mytens (or more likely by Caravaggio), I don't think the two works here are by the same hand. The background and the way the body is treated (the musculature in the belly) show a markedly different approach. The folds in the cloth are also more angular in the Mytens compared to the Furini. Of course, perhaps the two works are by Furini but some years apart, but to me the attribution to Furini is not convncing and Mytens remains much more likely, certainly considering the other version of the work in the Royal Collection.

But it is clear that it is an interesting but hard to pinpoint work; which has been on the market too often recently to suddenly become really valuable.

2017

Johannes Spilberg, sold in Czechia for 350,000 Euro plus costs

Hello, dear readers, welcome back! I've been offline for two weeks, but our normal schedule will resume again now, with many auctions to look at and choose from.

For a start, I have updated some old posts with results (e.g. the above work which fetched 37,500 Euro). I'm also very glad to note that while I was away, this blog has passed the 50,000 pageviews mark, with nearly 10,000 additional pageviews per month now; we have come a long way in the two years since I started writing these little auction comments.

I get more and more comments from readers as well, thank you all for that. Just a reminder that if you send me a mail from a blog post (with the contact form), I can't see which blog post you sent this from, so if you refer to a specific work, please make sure to include a link or some identifying information about it in your post. I try to reply to every mail I receive!

If you want more indepth advice, about works you own, works you want to buy or sell, or help with paintings or artists you are looking for at auction, just let me know. I don't work for free (this blog is already taking up too much of my spare time), but for a small fee I can provide a lot of help or information. Just ask away, and I'll let you know if I can help you and what it would cost you if you agree with it.