Carl Storch and Cornelius Gurlitt

Wendl, from Germany, sells on 4 March 2017 a "Carl Storch" water colour of a firl, estimated at 90 Euro.

It isn't great art, but the name Carl Storch brought back some memories from my youth.

There is a Hungarian book illustrator Carl Storch (1868-1955). There is also the painter Karl Storch (1864-1954, also known as Karl Storch the Elder). Apparently both used Carl and Karl, so distinguishing the two is very hard (some even claim they may be the same person). Karl was mainly a painter though, and worked in Prussia, Königsberg, basically the North of Germany and thereabouts. Carl was Hungarian (from Budapest) and worked in Austria and München, so the South of Germany and thereabouts. This work is supposedly by Carl.

Carl Storch was an illustrator in the style of the great Wilhelm Busch, and worked like him for the Fliegende Blätter and many other humoristic magazines. For some religious organisations he created Pukchen and Mukchen (or Puk and Muk in Dutch), the adventures of two small creatures (gnomes probably) living with lots of family at "Klaas Vaak", the Sandman. They have lots of adventures all around the world (both the real world and a fairy-tale world), offering hours of mindless funny escapism for small children. The books were written mainly between 1926 and 1940, and looking back at them they offer the typical white colonial image of the world one might expect (though nothing resembling Nazi ideals, the books can be compared more accurately with something like Tintin in Africa); but the artwork is exquisite, and explains why these books have remained popular with many collectors while most other works of the period have been long forgotten.

I've never seen an original illustration by him on the market, and a good Puk and Muk one would fetch good money. The painting here is nothing like these, but I can imagine some hardcore collectors wanting it anyway just to have something tangible by him.
Doing some basic research on Carl Storch, I learned that part of his artwork is now in the Sazlburg Museum, and that the city also has a Carl Storch street. Which gives us another connection to the art world, as the probably most famous inhabitant of that street was...

Cornelius Gurlitt, the infamous "owner" of a massive hoard of Nazi looted art, discovered in 2013. The vast majority (some 1,400 items) were found in Munich, but some 250 works were stored in his house in Salzburg. While it was the smaller set of paintings, it was at the same time the more important one, with oil paintings and water colours by Picasso, Courbet, Corot, Manet, Renoir, Nolde and Monet.

Looted Art shows some of these works, including the Monet and Courbet from Salzburg.

So, from a not really remarkable 1950s watercolour to interbellum children's books to a Nazi art collection and a Monet, it may be unusual for this blog but live is boring when one gets too predictable...

Androgynous Christ

Grossetti, from France, sells on 9 March 2017 a "Flemish School, 16th century" Androgynous Christ with the apostles, a large canvas (121 by 164 cm) estimated at 6,000 to 8,000 Euro. (Interenchères is for some reason a difficult site to get good images from, hence the upper image which is more detailed but loses some parts of the image, and the bottom one which is the full image but in low resolution; and that's also why both have unrelated icons in the corners!)

The subject of the androgynous Christ is not unknown but very rare nevertheless, which makes this otherwise not very remarkable painting by a second rate artist suddenly interesting. I know of only one other example, although more of these must exist. It symbolises Christ as the great unificator, the "Son" of God who came for all mankind, not just for the men, and thus needed to represent all humans. Not surprisingly, it seems to have been especially popular with some orders of nuns and with the beguines, and not so much with male clergy for whom a wholy male Jesus was easier to stomach / support / explain to the believers. A link with the mysticists, often women who got visions of God and felt a passionate love for Christ, seems obvious as well. The mysticists were mainly active in the 12th and 13th century, but their influence continued to be strong until certainly the Reformation and Contrareformation of the late 16th century.

The other image of the androgynous Christ, a much more explicit one, can be found in the Notre Dame de la Rose hospital, a mid-13th century creation in Lessines, in Southwestern Belgium, with Augustinian nuns. The painting is late 16th century.

I couldn't immediately find any paintings pointing to this composition or style, it seems to be a one off, perhaps painted by a member of the religious community, and thus perhaps a woman (many woman painters remained anonymous, and many painting clergy only orked for their own order as well, making their work scarce and often a bit naive).

The estimate of the work seems to be only based on the subject, as artistically it is worth probably 1,500 Euro (mainly because it is rather big). What it is worth as a scarce relic of a relatively obscure but eye-catching religious belief is anyone's guess of course.

Unusual Flemish "Adoration of the Magi"

Bruun Rasmussen, from Denmark, sells on 28 February 2017 a "Flemish School, 16th century" Adoration of the Magi, estimated at 2,700 to 4,000 Euro.

It is a highly unusual work, and although there aren't any interesting revelations I can offer about it, I still wanted to highlight it here.

Aspects I couldn't immediately find in other Flemish works of the period are the combination of a Maria lactans, the Virgin suckling the child, with an adoration of the magi; the lack of gifts from the magi, and the setting, against an almost Italienate background house and with a half column in the front. All highly symbolic, no doubt, but not really clear what it means. The central theme being overwhelmed by the soldiers in the background also gives a different image than most Adorations.

The painting is not executed brilliantly, and it may well be that this is a copy after a better work, but I couldn't find it.  I'm not convinced it is Flemish, but I can't really place it elsewhere with any certainty either. A 16th century date seems probable though.

The onlookers from a higher window in the background are more typically seen in an Adoration of the Shepherds than of the Magi, for some reason, like in the above by El Greco.

The value is about right, but for someone who does know more about this it might be worth more, and it certainly is interesting from an art historic point of view.

UPDATE: sold for 10,750 Euro or 4 times the estmate, so there clearly was something unusual about it!

"Circle of Michiel Coxie": follower of Laurence Neter?

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 11 March 2017 a "Circle of Michiel Coxie" (yet another one) Adam and Eve, estimated at 3,000 Euro.

I can find no similar work by Coxie, but the same composition, although slightly smaller, has been at auction at Sotheby's in 2007; oin this case, it was a signed and dated work, 1639 by Laurens de Neter or Laurence Neter. I can't find the work at Sotheby's (often a sign that it was unsold), but the RKD lists it.

Much of the following information comes from an interesting article about Neter on Artwis.com.
Laurens de Neter was born in Poland ca. 1600. He learned painting from the Flemish artist Isaac van den Blocke in Poland, and then went to the Netherlands (ca. 1625), possibly to Middelburg, the city of his teacher. He went back to Poland in the late 1630s and presumably stayed there until his death in or after 1649.

Many of his paintigs were small scale works on panel (just like the one here), but usually they were typical Dutch genre scenes, not the somewhat archac and overtly religious Adam and Eve we have here. They show the same somewhat primitive way of painting figures though,

The Neter one sold at Sotheby's seems to be a better work though than the one for sale here, especially the Adam is much more realistic and skillful (the muscles on the back!); with Eve the differenes are less clear. So it is probably safest to situate this in the circle of or to a follower of Neter. It will struggle to get the estimate though, a 1,500 to 2,000 Euro estimate seems more realistic.

"17th century Flemish Master" is later copy after Theodoor Rombouts

Historia, from Germany, sells on 2 March 2017 a "17th century Flemish painter" Meeting of David and Abigail, estimated at 3,800 Euro.

It is an 18th-century, rather mediocre copy after Theodoor Rombouts, who shows what a 17th century Flemish work really looks like. This is a huge work (280 by 230 cm) now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. Some minor changes, like the different position of the hand of Abigail, or the removal of the dog on the right, don't really improve the work for sale, and the vertical format brings the composition out of balance.

The estimate is way too high for this decorative but otherwise unremarkable piece, which may fetch 1,000 to 1,500 Euro at most.

Roelant Savery: central figure comes from Michelangelo...

Sala Retiro, from Spain, sells on 22 February 2017 an "Attributed to Roelant Savery" Rape of Ganymede, estimated at 26,000 Euro.

They already tried to sell it about a year ago, then with an estimate of 35,000 Euro.

It is a remarkable painting, I can't find another work by Savery which resembles it. What I did find though was the origin of the figure of Ganymede. I first noticed it in a remarkable painting by Battista Franco (1510-1561) from the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. It depicts the Battle of Montemurlo with the Rape of Ganymede. The Battle of Montemurlo is a 1537 battle where the troops of Cosimo I de Medici defeated the opponents of the Medici family rule in the city and effectively made the Medici the rulers of the city for a long period.

Close-ups of the two Ganymedes clearly show that the Savery is nearly identical the earlier Franco The setting is completely different though, instead of a majestic battle and a heavenly meal, you get a lonely shepherd dog looking up at the scene. I don't really know which of the two is the weirdest, but the Savery is certainly the closest to the original story.

But the trail of breadcrumbs doesn't end with Franco; he was heavily influenced by Michelangelo, and this figure is also originally an invention of Michelangelo. Although the original is lost, we have copies of his drawing in the collections of a few museums, including the Fogg Art Museums in Harvard, and the Royal Collection in Windsor Castle (shown above).

An engraving of this work, with the dog at the bottom, was made soon afterwards by Marcantonio Raimondi, one of the most important engravers of the Italian masters of the first half of the 16th century; it seems likely that this engraving was the actual inspiration for Savery (or whoever painted this Flemish-looking version). The dog as well is rather similar, but the distance between dog and master is vastly increased, and the background is completely changed.

25,000 Euro still seems rather expensive, but it is an unusual and well executed painting from the circle of Savery, so it certainly has a considerable value.

UPDATE: again not sold, and for sale a third time on  12 December 2017 with an again lowered estimate of 19,000 Euro.

Another version of an Adoration I discussed earlier: workshop of Pieter Coecke

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 11 March 2017 an "Antwerp School, ca. 1520-1550" Adoration of the Magi, estimated at 20,000 Euro.

It is probably the central panel of a triptych, and is a very good example of the composition I already discussed at length in June 2015 for an auction at Sotheby's Paris.

The one offered now seems to be a very good work, not up there with the best works of Pieter Coecke perhaps, but certainly good enough to be labeled Workshop of Coecke.

Coecke, Adoration, Musée National de la Renaissance, France

Coecke, Adoration, Dorotheum sale, 2015: estimate 100,000 to 150,000 Euro

Coecke, Adoration, Museum of Troyes

A small detail like the pinkish colour of the turban-crown, while in itself not definitive evidence of who painted this, is a recurring touch in many related Coecke works.

The work was for sale at Dorotheum in April 2016, then correctly described as "Workshop of Coecke", with an estimate of 35,000 to 45,000 Euro. I wonder whether the changed description is the genuine belief of the auctioneer or seller that this isn't a Workshop of Ceocke work, or an attempt to hide the fact that this work has failed to sell less than a year ago and to present it as new on the market and a possible sleeper discovery?

In any case, the estimate seems correct, even though it has likely lost its wings.

UPDATE: a reader alerted me to the German description of this work at the auctioneer, which is a lot more elaborate and mentions the origin of this composition with Pieter Coecke, but considers this version to be somewhat more remote, hence the "Antwerp School" generic description.  So no attempts to hide anything, just another opinion or a more cautious approach, and an English description which is a lot shorter and which caused my confusion.

UPDATE 2: sold for 26,000 Euro, as expected.

Portuguese, ca. 1500 Christ at the Column is copy after Del Piombo

Veritas, from Portugal, sells on 22 February 2017 a "Portugal, late15th early 16th century" Christ at the Column, a large panel (168 by 68 cm) estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 Euro.

It is an interesting, well painted work, but sadly it isn't late 15th century and not an original composition either.

The original is a 1518 fresco by Sebastiano del Piombo in the San Pietro in Montorio in Rome.

The work for sale is probably based on an engraving after the original, and painted in a rather archaic style. if it was really early 16th century, it would be a very early Renaissance painting for the region and would warrant the estimate. As a later (second half 16th century?) copy, of unknown origin, it is probably worth 3,000 to 4,000 Euro instead. Perhaps it is a work by Garcia Fernandes (died 1565)?

Note that a second work, clearly forming a pair with this one, is sold separately at the same auction. I'm always amazed that sellers and auctioneers are still willing to separate such pairs after they have been together for 400 years or more, but it's their prerogative of course. It has the same dimensions and estimate, but is less appealing to me. I can't find an immediate match for it, but it seems likely to be based on older paintings as well.

"Circle of Michiel Coxie" is follower of Gilles Mostaert

Rouillac, from France, sells on 20 February 2017 a "Circle of Michiel Coxie, Flemish School ca. 1600" Crucifixion, a small panel (38 by 29 cm) estimated at 1,5000 to 2,000 Euro.

The composition is not by Coxie but by Gillis Mostaert, and is known from quite a few copies.

Dorotheum had a larger example (74 by 54 cm) one for sale in 2014, "attributed to Mostaert" and estimated at 12,000 Euro, but it remained unsold.

Freeman's sold another small one in 2015 for $7,500.

This seems to have been the restored version of the above.

On the other hand, a somewhat damaged "Follower of Mostaert" version similar to the one for sale here (though of lesser quality it seems) was estimated only £600 at Bonham's in 2015, but remained unsold.

Jackson's sold in 2011 a slightly more decorative, less austere version for $1,600, but that one was much more blurry, less precise painted.

The above one is more of a mystery, as I have no idea about its location (the image comes from one of these "art reproductions" websites which are a plague but at the same time have a large repository of images). Clearly better painted, it seems somehow also more modern. No idea of its dimensions though.

Finally, the RKD lists a much more elaborate version which was for sale at Sotheby's in 2001 as "Studio of Mostaert".

So, not the best or the worst one, compared to the 6 other copies. This "Follower" or at best "Circle" of Mostaert one will probably fetch the estimate, perhaps closer to the upper limit, but not much more. But it's always fun to show the many slightly different versions of the same painting.

UPDATE:  the always interesting Twitter account "Rembrandt's Room" (Maaike Dirkx) sent me a link to yet another one, sold at Christie's NY in 2005 but attributed to "Circle of Denys Calvaert". It sold for a nice $33,600, but is clearly one of the better ones of this type (and very closely related to one shown above).

"Battle Scene" is Battle of Leckerbeetje; by Balthasar Courtois?

DVC, from Ghent, sells on 18 February 2017 an "Attributed to Sebastian Vrancx" Battle scene, estimated at 2,500 to 5,000 Euro.

Vrancx, Groeningemuseum, Bruges

It is a variation on a typical Vrancx work, the "Battle between Bréauté and Leckerbeetje, 5 February 1600", which for some reason was very popular and is known through many copies (both by Vrancx and his Studio, and later followers), as can also be seen in the inventories of Antwerp art legacies in the seventeenth century or similar sources.


The story isn't even about a real "battle" in the sense of a massive confrontation in war (although it was part of the 80 Years War, probably the second longest such named War in history), but it was a duel between 22 local, Catholic knights fighting for the Spanish, led by Leckerbeetje, and 22 Dutch and French knights, led by the Norman de Breauté for the French. Leckerbeetje died early in the confrontation, but his knights won and captured De Breauté and a few others. At the surrender, Bréauté was promised that he wouldn't be harmed (which was standard practice, much more interesting to demand a ransom than to kill prisoners, plus next time it might be your turn to get captured and you wouldn't want to be killed then either). However, the citizens lynched then anyway... The city, Den Bosch, was then still a Spanish-ruled, Catholic city, while the majority of what is now the Netherlands was Protestant and independent.

Vrancx, sold through Philip Mould

Why this moment captured the imagination isn't known, neither the actual story nor the original painting are really exceptional, but somehow it got copied and copied over and over again.

According to Jean Moust, who has a larger version of the work for sale for 11,800 Euro, Sebastian Vrancx was indeed the first to paint this, and other versions are by Pieter Snayers, Cornelis Droochsloot, Gerrit van Santen, and many anonymous artists.

Remarkable in the work for sale are the very prominent red sashes on many fighters. Perhaps this is partly due to the condition of the work, but as Moust describes, the sashes were the military uniform of the day, indicating to which party you belonged. That the work for sale shows the Red (Spanish) central figure already as victorious over Leckerbeetje, and not the more common fight between Breauté and Leckerbeetje, may indicate that this one was intended for a Catholic client, who would like to see this element stressed.

Apart from that element does the work for sale follow the composition of all these works quite rigidly. Most typical are some background elements; the gallows to the left, the tower in the middle, the mill to the right, with the city behind it; and the two watchers on the hillock on the right. The remainder is harder to see, the work needs cleaning and DVC doesn't offer high resolution images online.

The version which seems to copy this version the closest, at least with regards to the composition, is one at RKD attributed to Balthasar Courtois, a pupil of Vrancx. The colours are very weird, and the condition very poor, so a real comparison is hard, but the figures in the front, especially the fallen Leckerbeetje and some other elements like the group directly to the right of Bréauté, clearly relate this one to the one at auction now. Perhaps this indicates that the one for sale might also be by Balthasar Courtois, but it's hard to be certain with these.

It would surprise me if this work fetches the higher estimate, but the starting position of 2,500 Euro seems feasible on a good day.

UPDATE: unsold, again for sale with a 2,500 to 4,000 Euro estimate at DVC on 1 April 2017.

Mariana Van der Stoop

Stockholms Auktionsverk, from Sweden, sells on 14 February 2017 an "Attributed to Mariana van der Stoop, German 18th century" still life, estimated at 850 Euro.

Mariana Van der Stoop is a German (Hamburg) painter of whom very little is known (both her work and life). The attribution is based on a label on the back, and the only other work I could find with the same attribution is also such a still life with a mysterious hand appearing in it.

RKD has one other work, from an auction in  1944, which was signed. It is also a still life, but without the hand. RKD gives her active period as last quart of the 17th century, which is somewhat earlier than other sources. They give her first name as Marianna, with double N.

The painting is well made, and unusual enough to be interesting to modern buyers who would shun the standard still lifes. Add to this that we have here a rare example of a female painter, which is an additional reason to collect it (and to feature it here), and 800 Euro seems cheap. But it was already for sale in December as well, with the same estimate, and didn't find buyers then, so perhaps it will struggle again now. The damage to the paint surface may be partially to blame for this of course.

Follower of Jacques de Gheyn

Cnock, from Belgium, sells on 12 February 2017 an "Attributed to J. De Gheyn (1565-1629)" Archer and Girl, without estimate.

Cnock is a rather strange auction house (judged by their website), with a poor website and no estimates, but they have some interesting works for sale anyway.

The painting is a variation on the probably most famous work by Jacques (or Jacob) de Gheyn, the Archer and the Milkmaid, an erotic/moralizing painting (the interpretation varies a bit, but in reality many Old Master paintings were outwardly moralizing but in reality shamelessly erotic or filled with double entendres). This version though lacks some of the more obvious titillating references, like the happy codpiece (it is still there, but hard to see), or the milkmaid actually holding the elbow of the archer. In fact, here is she is no longer a milkmaid with a completely filled milk jug (wink wink nudge nudge, how subtle these Masters were!), but a farmer girl with a bag.

Strangely, another identical (though slightly better painted) version of this work was sold in 2014 for 6,600 Swiss Francs at Koller.  I at first thought them to be the same work (with some cleaning and different lighting), but a closer look shows some differences (the bag of the girl, the cords on her bodice which are red in 2014 and black now, the plumes on her hat which end somewhat differently). This one was attributed to a Follower of  De Gheyn.

As the painting follows the direction of the engraving and not of the original drawing, it seems likely that it is based on the engraving, but made a it more acceptable for some not too progressive audience. It may well be a 17th-century copy, made by a competent but far from brilliant painter, and should be worth 2,000 to 3,000 Euro. A real De Gheyn painting of the same subject would probably fetch 50,000 Euro at the least, and a whole lot of more if it was truly well executed (one of his drawings made more than 1 million pounds in 2014, so there is potential here)