The Riddle of Nijmegen

Oise enchères, from France, sells on 5 November in a big castle sale a "Dutch painting" Scene with Gentlemen, missing its dimensions, estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 Euro.

It is a painting which was in the Museum Valkhof in Nijmegen until last year, when a court case decided that it was looted art from WWII and should be returned to the heirs of the previous owners. It was then sold in Amsterdam in June for 3,000€. Now it comes on the market in France, for some reason, with a very succinct description, lacking the artist, the subject and the provenance, but with a higher estimate.

As explained in Dutch newspapers, this painting was judged to be looted art and had to be returned to the heirs of the pre-1940 owner. Those sources indicated that it it was a 17th century work by Christiaen Coeuershof (or Coevershof) which was bought in good faith by the city of Nijmegen in 1971 for about 1,500 Euro. It was perfectly at home there, as it depicts a local legend, the "Riddle of Nijmegen": however, the loss of the painting wasn't too bad for the city and museum, as they have three other depictions of the riddle and this version was usually in storage anyway. Strangely, an earlier article stated that the work was from 1576 and by Cornelis Ketel, but this seems to have been a mistake (he did paint another version of the story).

The actual riddle:
Siet doch de naerderheyt van dit geslacht
Die gheen die slapende en myn schoot wert bevonden
Is aen mÿn onderwettich houwilÿck gebonden

Ende de groen Iongelingen hebter op acht
Syn myns vaders broeders ende myn mans soonen

De yonghe gesellen die hem in swarten roú betoonen
Syn mÿn byslaaps kinderen en broers van die mÿn heeft gebaert

En de twe Ionghe quanten die midts teosse weesen
Vreúcht bewysen sÿn wt onsen bedde geresen
En in alles is wettege troú bewaert

Ist oock mogelÿck beraet u en u sin verklaert

Translation :
Behold the consanguinity of this family
The one that was found sleeping in my lap
Is bound to me by lawful marriage

And the younglings in green, pay attention,
are my father's brothers and my husband's sons

The young companions who show mourning in black
are the children of he who sleeps with me, and the brothers of she who gave birth to me

And the two youngsters in our midst
are the happy proof of what has come from our bed
And in everything lawful marriage has been kept

Is it possible? Think about it and it wll become clear

The solution, from Museum het Valkhof:
The old man is a widower of two women. Both women already had a child from a previous marriage (one a son and the other a daughter) when they married the old man. They both had two sons with the old man, so the old man ended up with four sons, a stepson and a stepdaughter. Those two (who were utterly unrelated by blood) married each other, and had a daughter. This meant that the girl had four uncles who were the halfbrothers of her parents.

That girl then married the old man (again, by blood they were unrelated), which was his third marriage. Together they had another two sons.

Not even a soap would dare to bring such a story. It was supposedly a true story, and very popular in Nijmegen in the 17th century, with at least 4 paintings surviving and an engraving from one of them. This is perhaps the least well painted of the four. Whether it is by Coevershof or not is not clear, but the value lies mainly in the anecdotical story, not in the artistic qualities anyway. It will struggle to get the estimate though, no reason why this work should be worth more in France than it was in its native Netherlands, certainly without any explanation of what it shows.

UPDATE: now, on 28 March 2017, again for sale at Versailles enchères, in France, with a correct description (subject and "After Coevershof", and the same estimate of 5,000 to 6,000 Euro.