Early Netherlandish portrait at Koller

Koller Auctions is selling a very interesting Early Netherlandish portrait. Estimated at only 3,800 to 5,700 Euro, it is described as "Portrait of a young man" and "School of Burgundy, probably 16th century(?)". I don't know whether they added the question mark because they aren't certain that it isn't a 19th century pastiche, or whether they believe it may even be 15th century.

The first thing that strikes me in the painting is the hat. It is the same hat used in the portrait of Philip the Good by Rogier Van der Weyden, ca. 1450.

Second, the tiny strip of background, just above the shoulders, so typical of Memling. But the overall quality of the portrait, and the anatomy, isn't good enough to be a Memling work (and too modern to be a Van der Weyden, of course).

So, is it some painter we can name? Not really. The identity of the sitter is equally mysterious. But if it is a ca. 1500 painting, with this quality, it should be worth a lot more than the estimate, and should easily fetch 20,000 Euro or more. I'm just a bot worried by the seemingly too obvious hat that is being used, it shouts too loudly "I'm old and Burgundian" perhaps.

UPDATE: apparently it wasn't sold, as it is again for sale on 22 March 2016 at Koller as  "Italy, ca. 1500, after a Flemish model", with an 8,000 to 12,500 Euro estimate (which is higher than the previous one!).

UPDATE: sold for 22,500 Euro, way above estimate! 

Jonah and the Whale, Jan Bruegel or Swiss?

Koller is selling on 25 March 2015 a depiction of the story of Jonah and the Whale, attributed to "Bern, ca. 1660", estimated at 5,700 to 7,600 Euro. UPDATE: not sold.

The restorer of the painting (or the owner at the time) seemed to think it might have been a Jan Brueghel instead, which is obviously quite a different thing.

Perhaps the idea of Brueghel came from a painting like the Christ at Galilee, but it is much better, less naive, than the one for sale here. It is charming in its folk art awkawardness, but the estimate seems a bit steep, and the date perhaps a tad late.

Unidentified copy of Barocci's Aeneas' Flight from Troy

At Göteborgs Auktionsverk, ending 1 March 2015, they sell a work by an unidentified artist, 19th century, "figure scene", estimated at some 320 Euro. Current highest bid only 75 Euro. UPDATE: sold for 267 Euro, not a lot for a nice picture if you don't want your paintings to be highly polished and finished.

The painting is actually a reversed (and much smaller) copy of a famous work by Federico Barocci, "Aeneas' Flight from Troy". The copy is rather sketchy but not bad; not as if the artist couldn't do any better (like most poor copîes), but like he didn't want to spend more time, a bit like a final preparatory sketch for the real work. Rudimentary in the details, lacking the finishing touch, but quite accomplished, as if some good artist made this relatively rapidly while on a Grand Tour. The fact that it is reversed and has different colours indicates that it was made after an etching though, which makes it even better (transforming an etching back into a painting isn't that easy). I would certainly much prefer to have this on my wall for 75 or 300 Euro than most other pictures that fetch this kind of money, even with some minor condition issues.

Rubbish and fakes on LiveAuctioneers

LiveAuctioneers.com would be a useful site if they would just scrutinize their sellers one tiny bit. Most of them are legitimate auction houses, selling legitimate art. Yes, they make mistakes and may be fooled by a fake now and then, but that's simply human error and to be expected.

However, there are a few (mostly American) auction houses, claiming to be reputable and long-running, who sell fakes and dubious works by the dozens. Let's be charitable (and cautious) and simply call them extremely incompetent.

Is there any reason (apart from money, obviously) why rubbish auctioneers like Best Auction For You, Wilson Fine Art and Antiques, Wholesale Art Auctions LLC, Art Everywhere Auctions, and Fine Art Online Auctions (to name just these five) are not simply thrown off LiveAuctioneers? If I was a real auction house, like most on LiveAuctioneers, I wouldn't want to be associated with these three and similar ones in any way, as they give auction houses a very bad name.

Furthermore, by pre-listing the exact same works again and again and again every few days, they are flooding the site ("art-bombing"? "Auction-bombing"?), making it a lot harder to find the interesting lots (certainly when you are looking for famous modern names like Picasso, Chagall, Kandinsky, ...)

The many houses which sell giclee prints without making any false claims of being original or authenticated are bad enough, but at least they don't sell "original" oil paintings with fake certificates (they often violate copyright laws, but that's less problematic than selling fakes estimated at tens of thousands of dollars in the hope that some sucker will fall for it).

I do love "Acrylic paintings" by Paul Klee, hand signd by the artist, when acryl paint was only commercially available only after his death... but when they are valued at $60,000 to $80,000, it becomes criminal instead of funny.

Barthel Bruyn, Annunciation

Henry's Auktionshaus, from Germany, sells on 28 February 2015 what they describe as an Annunciation by Barthel Bruyn the Elder, estimated at least 15,000 Euro. While it is an interesting painting, I don't see a real Bruyn in it, more a "School of", and don't think it is worth the estimate. UPDATE: sold for 18,300 Euro, so the market didn't agree with me...

Compared to a similar Annunciation by Bruyn from the National Museum in Warsaw, the composition is roughly the same, but the execution is significantly different. The Warsaw one is firmly based in older, 15th century Flemish examples. The one for sale is closer to an Antwerp Mannerist painting of some 30 to 50 years later.

One much closer to the one now for sale is kept in the reserves of the Wallraff-Richartz Museum in Cologne, and is described as "School of Bruyn the Elder" there. But even that one is of much higher quality than the one for sale now.

Unrecognised copies after Rubens

I think I'll make this a recurring post here. Rubens, together with Raphael, seems to be one of the most often copied old masters. Strangely, even some of his best-known works don't get recognised by auctioneers. I posted about this here, but they keep on coming...

According to Marbella Auctions, the above is a 19th-century Italian painting. This may be correct, but the basic info is missing... Whether it is worth 500 Euro or more is up to you, I wouldn't buy it though.

Flemish Master or Il Todeschini?

At Henry's Auktions, 28 February 2015, they sell a "Flemish master, 17th or 18th century", estimated at 2,400 Euro. At first glance, I could understand the attribution, as it vaguely resembles the work of Joachim Beuckelaer and the like, but further research showed that the same picture has been for sale at Hampel's Auktions some years ago as a work attributed to Il Todeschini (Giacomo Francesco Cipper), 1664-1736, an Austrian painter. It was then estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 Euro but as far as I can see failed to sell. UPDATE: sold for 2,928 Euro.

Compared to another Todeschini painting, like the one above that sold for 23,500 Euro in 2007, it looks similar in some aspects (like the right arm), but quite different in coloring and character.

But when looking at one that was sold in 2012, it clearly is very similar (the eyes, the flesh, ...). Still, while the painting for sale is more Todeschini than Flemish, I would call it "school of" or something similar, as it seems to be lacking in details.

Woman portrait, style of Van Dyck

UPDATE: Belatedly I found out that the original for this painting is a work in the Dresden Gemaldegalerie, painted by Rubens. The poor images I found show a distinctly less pretty painting than the one sold here though. A better (though sweeter) version was sold at Sotheby's in 2011 for £27,500. End of update...

Now for  sale at Historia, starting at 400 Euro, is a "Flemish portrait of the 17th century", 65 by 49 cm. It is a good quality work, in the style of Van Dyck. I can't readily identify it with a painter, but the quality is better than the starting price would make you believe. UPDATE: sold for 1,600 Euro, still cheap but a lot more realistic than the 400 Euro...

Portraits by Van Dyck like the one above share a number of characteristics with the one for sale, but the Van Dyck is a lot more individual, less generic (or perhaps it's just that a somewhat older face has more character than the young one for sale). The one for sale also looks slightly more modern, perhaps because of the hairdo. In any case, it looks to be worth a lot more than the 400 Euro it is priced at.

Flemish, portrait of a doctor, ca. 1600

For sale at Briscadieu in Bordeaux, 28 February 2015, lot 5, with an estimate of 3,000 to 4,000 Euro; a portrait of a man with his hand on a skull and a "cure-oreille", an ear pick, around his neck. Described as "Dutch School, ca. 1590".

The same painting was for sale at Hampel, in Germany, three years ago, with an estimate of 10,000 to 15,000 Euro (as far as I can tell it wasn't sold then). Perhaps it is due to the pictures, but it looks as if the painting has been cleaned or restored in the years inbetween, and that this hasn't done the picture any good: while the cape is more visible now, the face looks worse, which gives the painting an impression of lesser quality. At Hampel, it was described as "Flemish School, 17th century", so both the age and location have somewhat changed in the current auction.

It's an interesting image, but until someone identifies the sitter (from the weapon at the top right), it will be hard to sell it for much more than the current estimate. Perhaps for an art-loving ear surgeon?

Rubens, lost "Venus and Adonis", copy

Rubens painted three very similar versions of the "Venus and Adonis" myth (and some less similar ones as well). One is kept in the Hermitage, one in the Museum Kunstpalast (in Düsseldorf), and one is lost. A copy of that lost version is now for sale at Marbella Auctions, described as "19th Century oil painting on canvas in style of Rubens showing a lady holding a man with swans in the background."

As a copy of a lost painting, this one is obviously more interesting than most Rubens' copies, and it seems to be a fairly unusual painting anyway. With a starting price of only 1,500 Euro, it is a bargain. UPDATE: not sold, either because it wasn't a bergain or because people didn't recognise the origin of the painting.

The Hermitage version (perhaps a copy of a Rubens original, perhaps a workshop original) above is wider, and has the little angel hanging from the leg of Adonis instead of just holding it. The dogs are also more active.

The Museum Kunstpalast version above is the tamest, with the little angel and the dog just standing by. It is closer to the one for sale though in dimensions.

The original version of the one we have here was kept in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, but sadly lost during WWII. The image above is courtesy of the RKD. The copy, while pretty good, is lacking in some parts, like the head of the angel or the cape of Adonis. But it is perhaps your best chance to study this version of the picture anyway, with the original being lost.

Another, better copy of this work was sold at Christie's in 2003 for nearly 4,500 Euro.

Lempertz, Annunciation, ca. 1500

Not really a hidden treasure, as Lempertz auctions are always worth browsing, but an interesting picture for a reasonable price. An annunciation, described as Southern Germany, ca. 1500, and estimated at 8,000 to 9,000 Euro. It is very charming, painted with a mixture of skill and naivity, and with decorative elements like the rabbits on the right. The double see-through, left and right, is rather unusual, but not completely succesful, and many of the details are rather sketchy, unlike e.g. good Flemish paintings in the same style, but the overall effect is still quite accomplished. UPDATE: sold for 31,000 Euro, so I wasn't the only one to find the price very reasonable!

It reminds me of a similar painting from the Museum of Rothenburg, dated ca. 1510 and located in Southern Germany or Tyrol. The angel (especially the hair), the Child being beamed down with the cross by God (which indicates that the one for sale was originally a bit larger but has been cut down at the top, assuming the image shows the whole picture), the miniature donor portrait, all sit firmly in the same tradition. The one for sale is more modern, even though the estimated date is ten years earlier. 

The detail of the Christ with the cross coming from the sky is an ancient one, and can already be seen in the Annunciation by Robert Campin (compare e.g. as well the hair of the Angel). Other details, like the angel wearing a cross on his head, can be traced back at least to Petrus Christus. But the overall composition of the one for sale seems to be a new invention. 

Unrecognised (and rather poor) copies galore

Sometimes (well, quite often), you encounter copies which are only good enough for the dustbin. I'll collect a few here, not bothering to post them before the end of the auction because, well, they aren't worth bidding on...

This is being offered as "head and shoulder portrait of a bearded gentleman wearing a hat", 20th century. It's actually a copy of sorts of a famous self-portrait by Rubens.

A much better painted copy, but in very poor condition, was sold as "19th Century School - Oil painting - Shoulder length portrait of a man in 17th Century dress with wide brimmed hat" at the Canterbury Auction Galleries as well. You'ld think that these very famous and very often copied works would be recognised by auctioneers...

Similarly, the above was offered as "portrait of the Madonna and child with the infant John the Baptist", without any reference to the original "Madonna della tendo" by Raphael. Especially the Child in the copy is fascinating.

Somewhat better, but equally unrecognised though there was only one painter with this style and subject: a copy of Fragonard's "La chemise enlevée" from the Louvre is offered by Deutsch Auktionen in Austria (24 February 2015, lot 59) as "French School late 18th Century, Naked lady on her bed struggling with Amor". A wide estimate of 700 to 1,400 Euro, seems more than enough. UPDATE: sold for 1,800 Euro!

Oh, and I have no idea why, but the above is given at Dreweatts and Bloombury as a "Follower of / After Van Dyck". I don't see the resemblance here... 

Rubens

At Deutsch Auktion in Vienna, they sell (as lot 14) a painting attributed to Rubens. While it undeniably has quality,  it is too simple, too tame, to be a Rubens. It's a nice portrait by an unknown and probably hard to identify late 17th century Flemish painter, worth more than the $50 it stands for at the moment (with 3 bids so far). The painting is described as "Portrait of a bearded man in front of dark background", it seems rather clear that it is some monk, but beyond that not much can be said. Worth a few 1,000 Euro, but not the prices a real Rubens would fetch.

UPDATE: sold for 3,900 Euro, as expected.

Veronese, finding of Moses

Always the most fun, when the auction house points in the right direction but doesn't know (or give) the essentials. Here, at Deutsch, sale of 24 February 2015, lot 34, we have a work described as Painting: Italian artist 18th century. Well, it may be 18th century, it may be 16th century. What is certain is that the original of this composition is a famous work by Paolo Veronese in the Gemaldegalerie of Dresden. Now, is this a Veronese, a workshop of Veronese, a copy by someone well-known like Sebastiano Ricci (which would indeed make it 18th century) or even Tiepolo, or an inferior copy?

The original is significantly larger, the copy (if that is what it is) focuses on the essence only and drops the more anecdotical figures to the right completely.

But some elements in the one for sale are better (as far as one can see on these images) than in the Dresden version, e.g. the rushes on the blanket of Moses, or the feathers on the hat of the dwarf on the left, or the sky (the Dresden version has these rather simplistic pinky sunrays, the one for sale has much more "realistic" sky).

Veronese painted multiple versions of this subject, like this one pictured above, so it's not impossible
that another real Veronese version would appear.

So, is the one for sale an actual, and better, Veronese? Doubtful, although one never knows. Is it an inferior copy? Certainly not, it is a very high quality one. Author?  Not Tiepolo, whose copies weren't as faithful. Perhaps Ricci, perhaps someone else. But at an estimate of 3,500 Euro to 5,500 Euro, and a starting bid of only 1,700 Euro, this seems to be a so far unrecognised bargain. It's huge as well, at 165 by 147cm it is considerably larger than most copies on the market, indicating the ambition of the painter and the supposedly upper-class market. I wouldn't be surprised, if a few others recognise this, to see this pass the 10,000 Euro mark.

UPDATE: sold for 6,000 Euro, I was again too optimistic.

In 2004, at Christie's, another (complete) copy after Veronese, high quality but smaller (about 100 by 150cm) sold for $13,000. 

Master of the Prodigal Son or Michiel Coxie?

At Lemoine, a work attributed to the "Master of the Prodigal Son",  a well-known and productive master from Antwerp from around 1550, at the height of the Antwerp Mannerism. The estimate for this "Annunciation" seems rather high, at 12,000 to 18,000 Euro, but the work is interesting nevertheless. The basic composition, with a red four-poster on the right, Maria reading, a door or window in the centre, and the Angel on the left, can be found many times in many variations, going back to examples by Van der Weyden and Memling.

The painting takes many elements from the "Annunciation" by Joos van Cleve in the collection of the Met Museum, which is vastly superior of course.

The above version was sold at Bonham's in 2011 for 6,400 Euro. It was attributed to the Workshop of Michiel Coxie, and is a less refined version of the one for sale here. Many elements are nearly identical, some (like the Holy Ghost, but also the hands of the Virgin or the window in the back) are quite different though, but despite this it is unmistakeably (inspired by) the same composition.

The work for sale doesn't seem to be good enough to be by the Master of the Prodigal Son though, so the estimate is probably too high. Interesting, quite good, but not good enough. 

Medea or Lucretia

Not a terribly well executed painting, but interesting to see how attribution and subject can change on these. For sale at Balclis, 11 February, is a "Flemish School, ca. 1720, Jason and Medea", starting price 600 Euro. UPDATE: sold for 900 Euro.

The same or an extremely similar painting was sold in 2002 at Christie's as "Circle of Jacob Toorenvliet, the Rape of Lucretia" for $1,844. So now you can, if you are lucky, buy it for a third of the price... I don't really see a depiction of Jason and Medea in this picture though, the Rape of Lucretia seems a lot more likely. I can't judge the earlier attribution to the circle of Toorenvliet. 

More highlights from Vanderkindere, including a portrait close to Clouet

A very interesting auction at Vanderkindere tomorrow. I already highlighted two paintings the previous two days, a Workshop of Rubens and a follower of Dirk Bouts. Other (to me) interesting works include;

A painting (preparatory oil sketch?) of some prophet or philosopher, attributed to Gaspar de Crayer. The face is very convincing, the remainder is more schematic. Estimated at only 600 to 800 Euro. UPDATE: Sold for 600 Euro, which still seems a bergain to me.

A self portrait by 19th century artist Ferdinand De Braekeleer.  Nothing spectacular, but to get a nice self portrait drawing by a well-known artist for only an estimated 100 to 150 Euro is a bargain. UPDATE: sold for 500 Euro, so some people agreed with me.

A portrait of Duchess Catherine de la Valette, situated in the circle of François Clouet. I'm not convinced that this isn't a much later fake/copy, but it's hard to judge from the screen. The face isn't "primitive" enough to be a French mid-16th century portrait. On the other hand, it is very nicely painted and quite intriguing.

If it is 16th-century and French, then it is worth a lot more than the estimate of 3,000 to 4,000 Euro. UPDATE: sold for 7,000 Euro!

The above is a comparable detail from a Clouet portrait. To my unspecialized eyes, the Valette portrait looks later, more "porcelain"-like, but this may be due to condition of course. The similarities are certainly there. On the other hand, some Clouet paintings have a similar look to them, like the one below:

But that one (detail from "The Love Letter") is more sculpted than the one for sale... So I don't know, but it certainly is a painting that should get some serious scientific attention to determine whether it is a very, very good 16th century French portrait, or some random later portrait that has been made to look as if it is old..

ADDENDUM 10/02/2015

Could it be a Dumonstier? The Dumonstiers were a family of French portrait painters in the wake of Clouet. Etienne was the best, but Pierre Dumonstier the Elder (ca. 1545-1625) has made a portrait of  Bernard de Nogaret, Seigneur de la Valette in about 1585.

I also found a portrait painted by "the environment of" Daniel Dumonstier, another member of the family, which is close in style and dress to the one for sale. Dated to ca. 1630, this seems closer to the date for our lot here. Looking at other works by the Dumonstiers and certainly Daniel, I would attribute this lot to Daniel Dumonstier with some certainty. Whether the inscription is original is not certain, and the jewellery (the crown and the earrings) seem like later additions as well (duchesses normally don't wear crowns anyway, do they?), but the portrait is probably an original seventeenth-century French portrait of decent quality.