Monday 18 April 2016

Copy of two Ferdinand Bol paintings seems to prove that they belong together

Bukowski's, from Sweden, sells on 21 April 2016 an "Unknown artist, 18th century" pair of portraits, estimated at 650 Euro and currently bid at 485 Euro.

The portraits are both copies after Ferdinand Bol, but I can't find any evidence that these have been treated as a pair elsewhere, so just perhaps (based on the limited information I have access to) this lot is arthistorically important to establish the connection between these two works?

Both works were in the collection of the Pfalz, and now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. The woman was attributed to Rembrandt based on a fake signature.

The copies are somewhat reduced, but what is the chance of someone copying two unrelated Bol paintings (one long said to be by Rembrandt), of the same dimensions and in the same collection since centuries now, bringing them together as if they were a pair, if they weren't one originally?

The RKD dates the woman c. 1648, no date is given for the man. The copy of the woman doesn't have the plumes in her hair, which only were revealed again in the 1940s and had been hidden since at least the 1780s (but perhaps a lot earlier already).

The value of these copies, as a pair, is probably not more than 1,000 Euro, but they are not a common pair to find.

UPDATE: sold for 684 euro.

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