Wannenes 29 November 2017 part 3: women portraits

Wannenes, from Italy, has an interesting auction on 29 November 2017.

A 17th century miniature of Elizabeth I, estimated at 500 to 800 Euro, is quite good. I can find the necklace in other miniatures, but the dress and the crown (or whatever you wuold call such a head decoration) are distinct from what I can find online in other portraits. It is unsigned, and probably not good enough to be by Nicholas Hilliard, but it still is a fine old miniature (no idea why they consider it 17th century and not 16th century), and I could see it fetch 1,000€ or more.

More intriguing is a "Female figure" by Ambrosius Benson, estimated at 9,000 to 11,000 Euro.

Ambrosius Benson (ca. 1500-1550) was an Italian who worked most of his career in Bruges, in a typical Flemish style. Most of hs works are religious, some have mythological or historical themes, but he also painted a few portraits. The uppermost portrait ,which is attributed to Benson but not certain, is quite different; the bottom one is much closer though, and other works also show the same style.

The work for sale is comparable to this Lucretia, another (semi-)nude with a similar braid in the hair. The position of the sitter can even be compared with the small figire in the bed in the Lucretia, who has the same position apart from the upraised arm.

As far as I can tell though, the work for sale is his only female nude portrait, and even more amazing is that this (based on some limited online research including the RKD) is the oldest known surviving Flemish nude portrait. Before this work, nudes were usually religious inspired (like the wonderful Adam and Eve from van Eyck), or mythological (the Hercules and Deianira by Gossaert from 1517), or allegorical (the lost Bathing Woman by Van Eyck).

But the oldest nude portrait I could find was the ca. 1540 Joos van Cleve version of the Da Vinci / Salai Mona Vanna. That nude also has a small jewel on her head and another between her breasts, which may be significant (the Benson also has a bracelet around her arm, which is just visible on the right side of the painting).

One detail caught my eye: the jewel on the head of the Benson is quasi identical to the one between the breasts of the Mona Vanna. I don't know whether this detail reveals anything about the origin of the work, or the profession or status of the women, or whether it makes the Benson a forgery where the forger used details from other paintings, but it was too striking to remain unmentioned.

If this truly is the oldest female nude portrait in Early Netherlandish painting, then it probably should be worth considerably more than the estimate. Otherwise, and assuming it is correctly dated 1520 and by Benson, the estimate is right or perhaps a bit low.