Painting I highlighted now at TEFAF!

Weiss Gallery, an important Old Masters Dealer, is present at the major TEFAF art fair in Maastricht. And what do I spot when they Tweet about it but a painting I highlighted nearly exactly a year ago as being a good bargain, and which ended up being one of the biggest sleepers I had posted about ever?

It's nice to see what happens to paintings you care about after the initial auction has passed. This one ideally should go to a major Belgian museum, but they most likely lack the necessary funds for it.

"Venetian, 18th century" is (follower of?) Nicola Grassi

Neumeister, from Germany, sells on 29 March 2017 a "Venetian, 18th century" Rachel and Jacob at the Well, estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 Euro.

It is a work in the style of and possibly by Nicola (or Nicolo) Grassi (1682-1748), a Venetian artist who also worked in Bavaria around 1725. As Neumeister is located in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, it becomes even more likely that this is a work by him.

Rachel and the Well was one of the most popular topics of Grassi. Looking at e.g. FonzazioneZeri, an Italian art database, they list some 60 works by or associated with Grassi, incuding the following related works: an Eliezer, a Jacob, another Eliezer (pictured), an unclear sketch, yet another Eliezer, a very nice Rebecca (also pictured). Recurring elements include the sculpted base of the well, the white dress with blue or black shirt of Rebecca / Rachel, the background girl with the vase on her head, and elements like the sheep and the background. The main girl is also always clearly of the same type and posture, even though the hairdo varies.

Sotheby's sold in 2015 a Rachel and Jacob at the Well, estimated at $15,000 but unsold. This one is probably the closest to the one for sale. All these works have Rachel with the same clothes and the same or similar hair and figure, this one adds Jacob, who also has the same clothes and colour scheme. The well is also comparable (down to the square stone for the round well), as are the two women close to the well, the sheep, and the girl with the amphora on her head in the right background.

In 2006 Christie's sold a comparable work (a different scene from the same story) for £20,000.

The painting for sale is weaker in execution though than most certain Grassi works, both in the force the figures radiate and in the colouring. Comparing the Sotheby's one with the Zeri one above, such differences seem to be normal for Grassi though, and perhaps his German paintings cater to a somewhat different taste? I don't know enough about Grassi to attribute this one definitely to him, but it is clearly by at least a close follower. As an anonymous work, it should be worth the estimate: if it really is a Grassi, it is probably worth closer to 15,000 Euro.

"17th century painter" is copy after Balthasar van den Bossche

Von Zengen, from Germany, sells on 18 March 2017 a "17th century painter" Visit from a polish King to the workshop of sculptor Giambologna, estimated at 1,200 Euro.

It is a copy after a 1701 painting by Balthasar van den Bossche (1681-1715 so not 17th century), and the original says nothing about either Poland or Giambologna; but the clothes of the inspecting buyer indicate Eastern Europe, and many of these works contain copies of works by Giambologna. Van den Bossche was rather prolific and popular, and his works were often copied. The copy has the same dimensions as the original.

It wasn't very hard to guess the original artist, as such sculptor workshops are typical for him; but it was made even easier because the auction house showed a label with the title of the work (which indeed references a Polish prince), which had a handwritten note "B. vd Bosch"...

While Van den Bossche is far from the best painter, the work for sale is on closer inspection clearly inferior. It should struggle to reach 1,000 Euro. For a good Van den Bossche you'll need to pay 3,000 to 5,000 Euro, but the difference quality is quite striking.

UPDATE: the description has been changed on 10 March to "Attributed to Balthasar van den Bossche".

Flemish School is (after) Hans Jordaens III

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 20 March 2017 a "Flemish School, 17th Century" Passage of the Red Sea, a panel of 76 by 109 cm estimated at 750 to 1,000 Euro.

Another version of the same work, with nearly identical dimensions, is listed at the RKD as (after?) Hans Jordaens III (1595-1643), from a church in Zutphen, the Netherlands.

Other versions of the same image have appeared on the art market a few times recently, but I frustratingly only have some small images, and no knowledge of where these were offered or for how much. Wildly differing formats, the third one seems to be a fragment only though, but probably otherwise the best (or the best conserved) of the lot. Strangely enough that one is only attributed to "Circle of Hans Jordaens III"...

The one for sale needs a good cleaning, and certainly isn't the best version of the work: but at the current estimate it is very cheap, and it should fetch 2,000 to 3,000 Euro.

UPDATE: sold for only 800 Euro.

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".

Carl Storch and Cornelius Gurlitt

Wendl, from Germany, sells on 4 March 2017 a "Carl Storch" water colour of a firl, estimated at 90 Euro.

It isn't great art, but the name Carl Storch brought back some memories from my youth.

There is a Hungarian book illustrator Carl Storch (1868-1955). There is also the painter Karl Storch (1864-1954, also known as Karl Storch the Elder). Apparently both used Carl and Karl, so distinguishing the two is very hard (some even claim they may be the same person). Karl was mainly a painter though, and worked in Prussia, Königsberg, basically the North of Germany and thereabouts. Carl was Hungarian (from Budapest) and worked in Austria and München, so the South of Germany and thereabouts. This work is supposedly by Carl.

Carl Storch was an illustrator in the style of the great Wilhelm Busch, and worked like him for the Fliegende Blätter and many other humoristic magazines. For some religious organisations he created Pukchen and Mukchen (or Puk and Muk in Dutch), the adventures of two small creatures (gnomes probably) living with lots of family at "Klaas Vaak", the Sandman. They have lots of adventures all around the world (both the real world and a fairy-tale world), offering hours of mindless funny escapism for small children. The books were written mainly between 1926 and 1940, and looking back at them they offer the typical white colonial image of the world one might expect (though nothing resembling Nazi ideals, the books can be compared more accurately with something like Tintin in Africa); but the artwork is exquisite, and explains why these books have remained popular with many collectors while most other works of the period have been long forgotten.

I've never seen an original illustration by him on the market, and a good Puk and Muk one would fetch good money. The painting here is nothing like these, but I can imagine some hardcore collectors wanting it anyway just to have something tangible by him.
Doing some basic research on Carl Storch, I learned that part of his artwork is now in the Sazlburg Museum, and that the city also has a Carl Storch street. Which gives us another connection to the art world, as the probably most famous inhabitant of that street was...

Cornelius Gurlitt, the infamous "owner" of a massive hoard of Nazi looted art, discovered in 2013. The vast majority (some 1,400 items) were found in Munich, but some 250 works were stored in his house in Salzburg. While it was the smaller set of paintings, it was at the same time the more important one, with oil paintings and water colours by Picasso, Courbet, Corot, Manet, Renoir, Nolde and Monet.

Looted Art shows some of these works, including the Monet and Courbet from Salzburg.

So, from a not really remarkable 1950s watercolour to interbellum children's books to a Nazi art collection and a Monet, it may be unusual for this blog but live is boring when one gets too predictable...

Androgynous Christ

Grossetti, from France, sells on 9 March 2017 a "Flemish School, 16th century" Androgynous Christ with the apostles, a large canvas (121 by 164 cm) estimated at 6,000 to 8,000 Euro. (Interenchères is for some reason a difficult site to get good images from, hence the upper image which is more detailed but loses some parts of the image, and the bottom one which is the full image but in low resolution; and that's also why both have unrelated icons in the corners!)

The subject of the androgynous Christ is not unknown but very rare nevertheless, which makes this otherwise not very remarkable painting by a second rate artist suddenly interesting. I know of only one other example, although more of these must exist. It symbolises Christ as the great unificator, the "Son" of God who came for all mankind, not just for the men, and thus needed to represent all humans. Not surprisingly, it seems to have been especially popular with some orders of nuns and with the beguines, and not so much with male clergy for whom a wholy male Jesus was easier to stomach / support / explain to the believers. A link with the mysticists, often women who got visions of God and felt a passionate love for Christ, seems obvious as well. The mysticists were mainly active in the 12th and 13th century, but their influence continued to be strong until certainly the Reformation and Contrareformation of the late 16th century.

The other image of the androgynous Christ, a much more explicit one, can be found in the Notre Dame de la Rose hospital, a mid-13th century creation in Lessines, in Southwestern Belgium, with Augustinian nuns. The painting is late 16th century.

I couldn't immediately find any paintings pointing to this composition or style, it seems to be a one off, perhaps painted by a member of the religious community, and thus perhaps a woman (many woman painters remained anonymous, and many painting clergy only orked for their own order as well, making their work scarce and often a bit naive).

The estimate of the work seems to be only based on the subject, as artistically it is worth probably 1,500 Euro (mainly because it is rather big). What it is worth as a scarce relic of a relatively obscure but eye-catching religious belief is anyone's guess of course.