Tuesday 19 February 2019

"16th century Flemish School" goes back to Robert Campin and is close to Barend van Orley

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 25 February 2019 a "16th century Flemish School" Virgin and Child, estimated at 7,500 to 10,000 Euro. They note that it has an ancient attribution to Lancelot Blondeel.

The image is based on a well-known work by Robert Campin from ca. 1420, one of the most enduring works of the early Flemish Primitive art with at least 60 old copies and variations known. The original is sadly lost, but this version from the Met gives a good idea of what it must have looked like.

The version shown here goes back to Bernard (or Barend) van Orley (1491-1542), for example this version from the Museum of Oldenburg. It has a similar altar with cloth (which functions as a carpet as well) behind Mary, and the architecture with early renaissance elements and two windows is clearly comparable as well.

Still a lot closer is the Madonna Lactans of the Museum of Cadiz, which is also attributed to Bernard van Orley (but doesn't look to be good enough). This one only differs in details (the figures at the top of the colums) and in style of execution; an "attributed to Van Orley" for the work for sale seems reasonable based on this, and the estimate is very reasonable for this work.

UPDATE: sold for 30,000 Euro!

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