Wednesday 20 April 2016

"Dutch/German painter, 17th century" is Circle of Adriaen Coorte

Kunstauktionshaus Leipzig, from Germany, sells on 30 April 2016 a "Dutch/German painter, 17th century" Still life, estimated at 360 Euro.

It is a work in the style of Adriaen Coorte (ca. 1685-1723), a Dutch still life painter most famous for his almost ethereal depictions of white asparagus. His best works fetch millions at auction.

This work is dark and damaged, so it hard to be certain what is really for sale. It most likely isn't by Coorte though: the composition is unusual for Coorte (I only know of one other work by him with a tablecloth, and none with a metal platter beneath the asparagus), and the image is just somewhat too brutal, not sophisticated enough to be a Coorte. Most of his works are signed, while this one seems to lack a signature. Of course, it may always be an early work, different from his best known style, but the more obvious conclusion is that it isn't by him but by someone from his circle.

The one thing that gives the "early work" theory some credence is this early (1685) work, courtesy of the RKD, which is the closest resemblance of any Coorte work to the one for sale.

And then I'm stumped, as there don't seem to be any "circle of Coorte" painters. A few contemporary painters created still lifes with asparagus, but none with the other typical Coorte elements included (peaches, a butterfly, gooseberries).

What's it worth? Depends on what can be done to the damage, and what can be found beneath the damage and dirt. It certainly is worth a lot more than 360 Euro, but whether it is 3,000 or 30,000 is a gamble. But whatever you pay, I think with some added cost for a restoration you'll end up with a very, very good painting.

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