Thursday 28 May 2015

After Boucher, probably recently though

At Clars, American auction house from Oakland, they sell on 31 May 2015 an "attributed to François Boucher" Diana with Cherubs, estimated at $8,000 to $12,000.

It's a nice painting, but not Boucher-quality. It is a copy with variations after Boucher though: the source for the cherubs is his "Birth of Venus" above, from the Wallace Collection.

And the source for the Diana is the "Diana and Callisto" from the Nelson-Atkins Museum.

Taken all together, I would have serious doubts about the age of this painting which may well be fairly recent (in an old frame though!). UPDATE: sold for $4,500, way below the estimate but still too much in my opinion. Give the buyer the feeling he has gotten a bargain (just above half the estimate!) and still get more money than it's worth, that's smart business I guess.

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