Unrecognised copies after Teniers and after Maerten de Vos

Pousse-Cornet, from France, sells on 24 November 2018 a "Flemish School, 18th century" Banquet, estimated at 800 to 1200 Euro.

It is an unrecognised but fairly good copy after David Teniers the Younger, the "Feast of the Prodigal son" from the Louvre, which probably was a portrait of himself and his family. The version for sale is a bit blurry in the faces but otherwise better than most copies you'll find for this price. It probably is just not good enough to be considered a workshop version (it clearly isn't an original by Teniers, who is well-known for only painting one version of each painting himself, and letting his workshop make copies if needed), but I can see it going for 1,500 to 2,000 Euro.

And Madeleine, from France as well, sells a "Flemish School, 17th century" Last supper, a large canvas (90 by 170 cm) estimated at 800 Euro.

It is a copy after an engraving by Johannes Sadeler after a design by Maerten de Vos (found, as usual, on the site of the Rijksmuseum). The painter at least had the skills and originality to change it from a vertical work to a quite different horizontal one, moving figures around to achieve a better result in the new format. It is not the most popular design by De Vos, I couldn't immediately find other paintings with this design, and considering its size and age, I guess it will easily fetch the estimate.

Wonderful "Reynard the Fox" trial

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 12 November 2018 a "Flemish School, 17th century" Trial of the animals, estimated at 5,000 to 7,000 Euro.

The work has an old attribution to (Jan) Van Kessel and (Roelant) Savery.

In general, paintings from medieval, non-religious stories are rare. Normally one gets either Biblical or mythological stories, or more general allegories not related to early "novels" (if one may call them that).

Sotheby's sold in 2010 2 works by Jan Brueghel II with scenes from the same story, and with very similar dimensions. Together they fetched £91,000.

But nearly the same composition has been sold as the work of "Circle of Frederik Bouttats" at Christie's Amsterdam in 2011, for 10,625 Euro. Some animals have been added or removed, and I'm not certain that the works are by the same hand, even though they clearly come from the same workshop.

The way small things like eyes or fur are treated is not identical, but which one is better is a matter of taste more than real difference in quality. The version for sale was by a Francophone artist and/or intended for a Francophone audience, as the book in the hands of Reynard reads "Pauvre", French for "poor". The text in the other version is different, but I can't decipher it.

I like the one for sale better than the Christie's one though, so in my view the estimate is clearly too low, and this should fetch 12,000 to 15,000 Euro.

UPDATE: sold for 60,000 Euro!

"Circle of Abraham Janssens" is copy after Willem van Herp the Elder

Oise enchères, from France, sells on 3 November 2018 a "Circle of Abraham Janssens" Vistation, a large work (112 by 162) estimated at 6,500 to 7,000 Euro.

It's an impressive, almost Rubensian work, but highly deficient when one looks at details, like faces. Either some extremely poor retoration has ruined the work (but this might be reversable), or (more likely) this is a copy after a very good work done by a patient but mediocre amateur. When copying a cloud or a dress, getting the positions slightly wrong isn't that important. When painting a face, the minutest details matter. The best thing about such copies is the renewed respect one gets for actual good painters, people who not only can invent these compositions, but paint them convincingly.

The same composition is known in multiple much better versions, originally by Willem van Herp, and also by Joseph Marie Vien. This makes the work more recent, as Janssens lived from 1575 to 1632, and Van Herp from 1613 to 1677 (and Vien from 1716 to 1809!).

The best-known version by Van Herp is kept in the Museum of Poitiers. The work, although on a smaller canvas, has a larger composition, adding some extra features left and right.

Even better is a version in a private collection, which probably is the actual original by Van Herp. This version was for sale in 2005 at Sotheby's, with a surprisingly low estimate of 15,000 to 20,000 Euro. I could see this go for 100,000 Euro if it came on the market now, as it is a very good painting from one of the best followers of Rubens.

Another good but dirty copy, with some additional foliage on the right side and at the top, sold at Sotheby's for £15,000. 

The version for sale though is a lot worse, and I doubt that anyone who has really looked at the painting and noticed these faces will be willing to spend 6,000 Euro on it.

"Circle of Van Kessel" is follower of Maerten de Vos

Herbette, from France, sells on 11 November 2018 a "Flemish School, 16th century, circle of Van Kessel" Adam and Eve, or the Earthly Paradise; a large canvas (105 by 151 cm) estimated at 15,000 to 20,000 Euro.

They don't indicate which van Kessel they mean, but that's not really essential. The painting is impressive, but the Adam and Eve are oddly amateuristic compared to most of the work. This is usually the sign of a copy, and this one is no exception.

Christie's sold in 2006 a "Maerten de Vos" Garden of Eden, an even larger work (143 by 208 cm) with nearly the same composition, but clearly better executed. It fetched $132,000.

The work had been sold at Christie's in 2003 as well, and had been restored in the three years since.

There are many changes between the work of de Vos and the work for sale, e.g. the position of many animals, so it may be that the work for sale is not based on this work directly, but on another version. But the essentials are obviously the same.

The work for sale, despite its shortcomings, is impressive enough that it may fetch the lower estimate.

"Dutch" painting seems to be by a follower of Jacob De Wet the Elder

Henry's, from Germany, sells on 27 October 2018 a "Dutch artist, ca. 1680" Moses striking the rock, estimated at 1900 Euro.

The painting may be the work of Jacob De Wet the Elder (ca. 1610 - ca. 1680), a painter of limited skill (good as a composer, poor in painting figures) who is best remembered as the teacher of some more important artists, including Paulus Potter and Job Berckheyde.

One of the best works by him is another depiction of Moses striking water from the rock, now kept in the National Museum of Warsaw. It shares many elements with the work for sale, from the basic composition to the drinking woman in the bottom middle, who has a nearly identical kneeling posture in the same position on the work. Some other figures and elements are also rather similar.

Clearly the work for sale is not a copy of the De Wet from Warschau, but the work seems to come from the same school or studio. It is probably not good enough to be by De Wet, and will struggle to fetch the asking price.

"Dutch, ca. 1670" is copy after Vincenzo Campi (or someone close to him)

Henry's, from Germany, sells on 27 October 2018 a "Dutch, ca. 1670 early Baroque painting" of children feeding a cat, estimated at 450 Euro.

As I have already treated that topic, albeit with better paintings, in some earlier blog posts, I took more interest in this one than the actual quality warranted. And sure enough, a much better version of this composition already appeared in my post of December 2016. It was sold at Gros & Delettrez in 2012 with an estimate of 2,000 Euro, and attributed to a follower of Vincenzo Campi.

The current one is charming, and 450 Euro is not a lot for such a work, but it probably isn't Dutch.

"Audience with the pope" is copy after Rubens' "The four church fathers"

DVC, from Belgium, sells on 27 October 2018 a "17th / 18th century" "Audience with the Pope", estimated at 1,000 to 2,000 Euro.

While the painting clearly contains a pope and others, it would be a very strange "audience" with a semi-nude man, a lion, a dove and some putti.

It is a depiction of the 4 main Roman Catholic church fathers, Saint Ambrose (with the beehive), pope Gregory the Great (with a dove), Saint Augustine (with the bleeding heart), and Saint Jerome (with the lion). The original painting was by Rubens (lost? I couldn't find an image or location for it), but it is known through copies, including a painting by Jacob Jordaens (RKD) and an engraving by Cornelis Galle (Rijksmuseum).

This a rather rare work, some other paintings by Rubens have been copied much more often, and because of its art historical importance (and relative quality) it should easily fetch the estimate.

"School of Martin van Meytens" is Workshop of Jean-Baptiste Santerre

Quentin, from Germany, sells on 20 October 2018 a "School of Martin van Meytens" Portrait of a Smoker, a relatively large (100 by 80 cm) work estimated at 1,600 Euro.

They have used it as the cover of their catalogue, and it is an attractive work. It doesn't seem to be from the School of Meytens (1695-1770) though, his style is related but different, with more clearly delineated features, more stark blacks and less smokey sfumato. He also nearly always painted stately portraits, not this kind of genre portrait in a much more informal atmosphere.

Luckily the RKD has a better version of the painting for sale in their database. It was sold at Sotheby's Monaco in 1987, and is by Jean-Baptiste Santerre (1651-1717).

He was a typical (though very good) painter of the early French Rococo, known for portraits (top image is his self portrait) and slightly risqué nudes.

Another(?) version of the painting is located in a private collection in castle Bouzillé in the French Anjou region, according to "pipegazette.com"

The painting for sale lacks the finesse and shining finish one can see in the Sotheby's version, so presumably this isn't an original by Santerre but a copy. It is good though, so this kind of thing then usually gets labeled "workshop copy" no matter if the artist actually had a workshop which ever created copies or not...

The version for sale should fetch 6,000 to 8,000 Euro. 

Flemish flagellation is copy after Jacopo Palma

Eric Caudron, from France, sells on 18 October 2018 a "Flemish School, late 16th century" Flagellation of Christ, badly damaged and estimated at 400 to 500 Euro.

The work looks interesting, but turns out to be a opy after an engraving by Agidius Sadeler of a painting by Jacopo Palma. The engraving dates to 1594, so the painting is indeed late 16th or early 17th century.

As a badly damaged copy, it will struggle to get the estimate, but it is an interesting work nevertheless.

An early Belgian post-impressionist portrait for 70 Euro

Rops, from Belgium, sells on 22 October 2018 a "Men's portrait of Colbrandt 1907" estimated at 70 to 90 Euro.

Even as an anonymous portrait, it would be cheap to get this at 70 Euro, as the work is fairly well done and is  rather avant-garde for its time. But what's is strange is that the auction house seems to think this a portrait of Colbrandt, instead of this being a work by Colbrandt. Or at least they don't use their standard "signed Colbrandt" language, nor add "Colbrandt" or "Oscar Colbrandt" as the artist.

Oscar Colbrandt (1879-1959) was a Flemish painter who first specialized in portraiture, then turned to religious art, stopped exhibiting in 1925, and finally succumbed to "madness" (of whatever kind) and spent most of the last twenty years of his life in the well-known Guislain Institute in Ghent, one of the most modern mental institutions in the world at the time.

Little known during his lifetime, he got more attention afterwards, with solo or duo exhibitions nearly every decade.

He studied in Ghent shortly after 1900, together with people like Constant Permeke, Frits Van den Berghe, and Albert Servaes, who would become leading figures in the Flemish Expressionism. Servaes especially also turned to similar religious art. Colbrandt made very few paintings, and most of his known works are drawings. The only painting I could find in art sales databases was a Pieta which went for nearly 4,000 Euro. His drawings usually fetch around 1000 Euro though.

This work though is different, as it is a very rare example of his early work in portraiture, and not his later religious art. The work is strikingly fauvistic in it use of colouring, but the physiognomy, the look of the face is more realistic and already points to the later Expressionistic style of a Constant Permeke. The style may not strike us immediately nowadays as something special, but that is caused by the many later artists who used the same techniques to create portraits. In 1907 though, this was a novel, artistic choice, not a commercial thing.if the work had been painted in the 1950s, it would be a normal, neglectable work, but in this period very few Belgian artists showed any Fauvist influences, or general post-Impressionist characteristics. The combination of the wild colouring and the rough, anti-idealized features make this an unusual and very modern work.

It should be worth 1,500 to 2,000 Euro, but with such relatively unknown artists and very few comparable works, it is very hard to put a price on it. Still, 70 Euro would be an extreme bargain.

A 1595 work without an estimate or reserve price

Metz Auktionen, which isn't from Metz but from Heidelberg, Germany, sells on 13 October 2018 in an unlimited auction (i.e. without estimates or reserve prices) a "16th century monogrammist B, dated 1595" Entombment of Christ, an oil on panel.

A 1595 painting without a limit is interesting in any case, and this one doesn't look half bad either, although somehow it looks more like a well-preserved tapestry than like a painting, probably caused by the absence of dark shadows and contours in the figures.

The work is not an original invention though, but a copy after an engraving. It's made by Raphael Sadeler, ca. 1593, after a painting by Hans von Aachen (I've not found this painting though). The above copy comes from the Rijksmuseum.The date of 1593 is extremely close to the 1595 date of the painting.

The RKD lists another copy after the engraving, which was sold at Sotheby's in 2007. It's nice to see how the need to add colours and in general turning an engraving back into a painting can lead to quite different results.

And while researching all this, I find out that the work for sale had been offered at Nagel (Germany) in 2015 already, and then with the right attribution of "After Hans von Aachen". No idea what happened between then and now...

What's it worth? A few hundred Euro, perhaps a bit more if you believe the 1595 date (which may well be correct, but is of course hardly proof of the age of the work).

Painting had me stumped in 2016, a reader has now identified the artist!

In April 2016, I wrote about a large canvas for sale in Germany which looked to me like a stduy by a good Italian painter (the kind of final, full-size study that gets presented to the people paying for the work before the definitive version gets created). I dropped a few big names, but had to admit that in the end the work had me flummoxed and I wasn't able to even point somewhat in the direction of an artist or circle.

Recently though, a Russian reader fianlly was able to give me the actual artist of this work, and some clues about what happened to it. They recognised the style of the artist when they visited an exhibition in Cremona (Northern Italy) in 2017.

The artist was Luigi Miradori, better known as "Il Genovesino" (ca. 1600-1656), who was mainly active in Cremona, where most of his known works are kept as well. Two of his many children, his son Giacomo and his daughter Felice Antonia, were painters as well.

His work is High Baroque in style, as can be seen in the above "Rest on the Flight to Egypt", which is markedly different to most works with that topic I have presented here; normally you get a peaceful family scene, in a wooded or grassy landscape. Not here though...

At best, he is a very good painter, who mastered a wide variety of subjects, and who deserves wider recognition.

The work that was sold depicts a "Martyrdom of Saint John of Damascus". This work, with "location unknown", is mentioned in the description of another work by Genovesino, for sale at Marty de Cambiaire.

They state that scholars have been "able to identify the artist's self portrait in the man with the beret in the large Multiplication of the Loaves (Cremona, Palazzo Comunale) and in the Martyrdom of St. John of Damascus (location unknown)." And a detail of the former work seems indeed to show the exact same man, down to the painter's beret, as the figure looking out of the Saint John that befuddled me.

The reader wanted to see if his discovery would withstand the scrutiny of the experts, and learned that apparently the same link was made in the catalogue "Genovesino e Piacenza" on page 35, and that the work sold in 2016 has since been restored. I have not seen a picture of the restored work yet though.

So we now know who painted this, and what the subject is. I don't know yet what the auction price was, but it seems that the work ended up in a private collection in France. Thanks to the exposition in Creomona in late 2017, and in Piacenza in early 2018, and the accompanying catalogue, the artist has become a lot more known and studied, and interest in his works will only have increased, so whoever acquired this probably has made a very shrewd buy.

UPDATE: this post has generated a lot of discussion and replies on Twitter, which is great. The main conclusion of this is that the work was apparently found by French art dealers Talabardon & Gautier, Paris art dealers mostly specialized in the 19th century but in general known for the many interesting works they unearth. They showed the work as a Genovesino at TEFAF (which makes the second painting I know of that I first highlighted when it was cheap and/or without attribution, and which ended up at that fair). It also was included (text and images) in the "Genovesino e Piacenza" catalogue for the exhibition this Spring.  All in all, it is good to see this neglected painting now get the attention it deserves, and it enabled me (and presumably others) to get to know an artist I otherwise might never have heard about.