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.
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