Thursday 15 September 2016

Cheap Flemish "Saint Jerome" is based on Titian (plus a copy after Correggio)

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 24 September a "Flemish Master, first half of the 17th century"  Saint Jerome, a 93 by 121 cm large canvas estimated at 400 Euro.

While the work is damaged, it is a well-painted work and an absolute bargain at that price. The Jerome is a close copy of the same saint painted by Titian in 1575, now in the Escorial. The painting for sale is somewhat more line-based and less colour-based than the Titian, and made by a good artist but not by someone of the calibre of the Ventian master. Whether the additions to the left are inventions by the copiist or are evidence that the Titian was originally larger is not clear to me at the moment. The somewhat weird way the lion is cut off in the Titian may point to the latter possibility, which would make this work a lot more interesting (depending on how many copies of the full Titian are still around).

The work for sale could do with a thorough cleaning, a lot is happening in the background that is barely visible anymore (e.g. the two figures in a boat on the left, and a lion at the middle bottom). It should be worth at least 1,000 Euro without even guessing at the artist or knowing the exact relation to the original Titian work.

UPDATE: sold for 800 Euro, double the  estimate.

Oh, and at the same sale there is an "Antwerp Master, middle 17th century" mother and child, a small (31 by 34) but attractive work estimated at only 400 Euro. It turns  out to be a copy after "La Zingarella" by Correggio, a ca. 1517 work now in the National Museum in Naples.

UPDATE: sold for 700 Euro.

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