Missing Rubens

A lot of unrecognised copies after old masters this week, mostly to poor to mention here (or do you want a poor 19th century copy of a Velazquez?). More fun is it when a copy of a Rubens painting turns up at Drouot (lot 52, 27 March 2015), described as  Flemish School, 17th century, "Diana", and estimated at 2,000 to 3,000 Euro, which turns out to be a copy after a lost or location unknown Rubens original. Could it be the long lost original? Well, obviously not, unless you believe that the whole painting has been overpainted so much that every trace of Rubens has been erased.

A much better copy was sold at Sotheby's for £10,000 in 2008. The one now for sale seems relatively expensive considering the quality, but if you are trying to collect every Rubens painting, this may be one of the harder to find ones!

There are a few important differences between the Sotheby's copy and the one for sale here, no idea what the reason is (creative freedom of the copiers? Multiple lost originals?). The result is that in the one for sale, the dog in the front is just barking at nothing, while in the Sotheby's one he is barking to some dead wildlife. Seems more logical...