Vassy et Jelanques, France, sells on 4 February 2017 a "Flemish school, ca. 1550" Benediction of Jacob, a very small panel (19 by 25 cm) estimated at 600 to 800 Euro.
It is immediately obvious that this isn't a Benediction of Jacob, but an Annunciation instead. 1550 also seems somewhat early for the work, it shows more Baroque influences.
Some searchng led to the above work, sold in 1998 at Dorotheum as Ambrosius Francken, but at
RKD listed as anonymous, ca. 1617 (the specific date is based on a marking on the panel). This version is a lot bigger and better though.
Another copy, this time attributed to Frans Francken II, can be found in the
Art Institute of Chicago. It is a lot closer in size to this one (29 by 23 cm) and also closer in execution (the main difference in composition is that the one for sale has the flowers at the front which can also be seen at the Ambrosius version, but otherwise this version is much more similar).
The one for sale is of course not as good, but even so I have the feeling that a good cleaning and perhaps restoration of the work for sale will reveal a work that is rather close to the Francken, and would be worth more than the current estimate. The fact that the colours are identical also indicates a source close to Francken, and not just some copy after an engraving. Some basic cleanup has been done in the centre, and the clothes and hands seem to indicate a rather good painter, although the faces are probably a bit weaker. Worth a punt!
UPDATE: a kind reader informed me that the error apparently was only at interenchères, where for some reason two pictures were mixed together. In reality there were two lots, one Flemish School Benediction (shown above), and one (discussed here) annunciation, which they attributed to Pieter Lisaert (fair enough, Lisaert often copied Francken so this might well be correct). The Lisaert
sold for 1,500 Euro, more than double the estimate, so others saw potential in it as well. The Benediction remained unsold.
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