"Circle of Michaelina Wauthier" is copy after Van Dyck

Vanderkindere, from Belgium, sells on 27 March 2018 a "Circle of Michaelina Wauthier" Mystic marriage, estimated at 300 to 400 Euro.

I see very little influence of Wauthier in this mediocre work though. She has painted at least one Mystic Marriage (now kept in the Seminary of Namur), and she is the well-deserved candy of the month in Flemish Baroque painting as she has been undervalued for way too long, even though she is a very good painter and should be one of the standard names behind the big three (Rubens, Van Dyck and Jordaens), up there with people like Rombouts, De Crayer, Van Thulden, or Quellin.

But that doesn't mean that some unrelated work should be tagged on her "entourage" when there is no indication of any influence; the work for sale is a poor copy after Van Dyck (from the Royal Collection), nothing more, nothing less.

UPDATE: sold for 350 Euro.

1500 Euro "Probably Flemish" painting is version of major work by Hendrik van Balen

Scheublein, from Germany, sells on 16 March 2018 a "Probably Flemish, 17th century" Moses struck water from the rock", a large canvas (108 by 140 cm) estimated at 1,500 Euro. The auction house also mentions that on the back it is described a "in the style of Frans Francken".

The work is actually a large copy of a work by Hendrick van Balen from the Shipley Gallery in Gateshead (found through the invaluable ArtUK).

NICE (the National Inventory of Continental Paintings) has some further information on the work, including old attributions to Frans Francken (hah!) and Paul Bril, and the existence of another copy (on copper, so not this one) in Vienna.

The Shipley version is in better condition, but it is hard to tell whether the issues with the work for sale are all caused by conservation issues or also by simply being a less well executed copy. The version for sale works a bit better as a composition in my opinion, the Shipley version has e.g. a very straight line just left of the middle between foreground and background, where the Scheublein version has a more natural, organic feel to it.

Another version of the work (dated 1607) was for sale at Christie's in December 2017, with an estimate of £30,000 to £50,000, but it apparently didn't sell. Christie's doesn't show its recent unsold items though apparently (booh!). Judging from the small picture I could find, it looks as if the background in that version is closer to the one for sale than to the one at Shipley. It presumably was a superior version to the one for sale, but without better images I really can't be sure.

More impressive is another version that was sold at Aguttes, in France, in 2012. Estimated at a hefty 70,000 to 90,000 Euro, this small version on copper (30 by 65 cm) sold for 969,000 Euro (full price). This version definitely looks to be better painted than the one for sale though, and certainly much better conserved...

It seems to me that the work for sale is in any case worth considerably more than the estimate, and should fetch 5,000 Euro as a good, large copy after Van Balen. If it turns out to be a real Van Balen which just needs some TLC, then the value could be a lot higher still. But at 1,500 Euro it is a steal.

UPDATE: sold for 5,500 Euro, the price I gave if it was a good copy and not an original.

"Flemish School" is copy after Adriaen Isenbrant

Millon, from France, sells on 16 March 2018 a "Flemish School, late 16th century" Mystic marriage, estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 Euro.

The work is a copy after a much better work by Adriaen Isenbrant now in the Alte Pinakothek, with altered colours, as if it is created after a drawing or a black-and-white photograph. It looks to be a lot later and may well be a 19th century. The estimate seems optimistic.

10K "Attributed to Jan van Hemessen" is copy after Domenico Fetti

Millon, from France, sells on 16 March 2018 an "Attributed to Jan Sanders Van Hemessen" Ecce homo, estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 Euro. The same work was offered in December as well.

It is an interesting work, but sadly not by Van Hemessen (1500-1566), but a copy after Domenico Fetti (1589-1624), a work now in the Alte Pinakothek. As such, and being a decent but far from brilliant copy, it is probably worth 3,000 to 4,000 Euro.

UPDATE: not sold, now again for sale at Millon on 13 June 2018 with a reduced (but still to high) estimate of 6,000 to 8,000 Euro and an unchanged description.

"Attributed to Honthorst" seems closer to Bijlert

Carlo Bonte, from Belgium, sells on 21 March 2018 an "Attributed to G. Honthorst" Allegory of the five senses, a relatively large (126 by 150cm) painting estimated at 5,000 to 8,000 Euro.

It is a fine work, though not good enough to be by one of the great masters, and may well be an old quality copy of a to me unknown work. The style is closer to the works of Jan van Bijlert (1597-1671) instead of Honthorst (1592-1656). Both were Utrecht caravaggisti, but this work has more aspects in common with Bijlert.

The most striking is another Allegory of the Senses, which seems almost like a counterpart to the one for sale. It is the property of the Davis Museum in Wellesley College near Boston, USA.

Other elements, like the woman on the left, are also comparable to the work of Bijlert.

The estimate seems about right, perhaps a bit too high.

UPDATE: sold for 11,000.

"Dutch School" is copy after Jacob de Backer

Castor Hara Drouot, from France, sells on 9 March 2018 a "Dutch School, 17th century" Adam and Eve, estimated at 1,000 to 1,500 Euro.

It is a copy after a work I already mentioned in an earlier post, and which was sold at Dorotheum in 2016 for 54,000 Euro. While the Dorotheum version is clearly better, the price difference is still huge and getting the one for sale now for 1,000 Euro seems like quite a bargain.

UPDATE: for sale at Dorotheum on 23 October 2018 as a Jacob de Backer! Certified by Klaus Ertz, who isn't really a reliable authority any more, but still a nice upgrade from my "copy after". The work has been cleaned and is now valued at 15,000 to 20,000 Euro, which seems realistic. Of course they don't mention the provenance, which really is a lost art at auctions.

Flemish Vanity, ca. 1570

Hôtel des Ventes d'Avignon, in France, sells on 10 March 2018 a "Flemish Vanity, ca. 1570" estimated at 3,000 to 4,000 Euro.

Another version of the same composition, this time said to be ca. 1540, can be found at the RKD. Currently described as "anonymous Dutch", it has in the past been attributed to Jan van Scorel and (in 2001) to Cornelis van der Goude. The RKD version is slightly smaller but clearly better painted, in the geometric body style typical of Scorel and his circle. The one for sale is smoother, showing some sfumato (the "smoke"-like, more fluid contours and shadows on bodies best known from Leonardo).

There is a fine chance that both are based on some Italian engraving, but I haven't found that one so far. The RKD one seems clearly older, but the one for sale is interesting as well, as a still early Flemish Renaissance painting of considerable skill.

Somewhat different versions of the same basic elements can be found aplenty though, e.g. this 1525 engraving by Barthel Beham, which seems very close in some aspects (the position of the legs, the hand pointing on the skull). The meaning of these images varies, sometimes it is a "we are born to die" happy thought, sometimes it is an "amor defeats death", but those tend to show a happier child, not a contemplative or sleeping one.

The above, by Raphaël Sadeler after Marten de Vos, is from 1570 and may have inspired the date given for the work at auction. It is another "tempus fugit" (time flies), life is but a short and fragile episode cautionary tale.

I haven't yet found a likely painter for the work for sale, but it should easily be worth the estimate, even if the child isn't the most attractive-looking (a common issue with many old paintings).