Wednesday 13 February 2019

"17th century Flemish School": a Hieronymus Francken III?

"Européenne de ventes", from Bourg-en-Bresse in France (the city of the wonderful Monastère de Brou), sells on 21 February 2019 a "Flemish School, 17th century" Christ carrying the cross, an oil on copper of 36 by 28 cm estimated at, well, no idea, they don't give an estimate.

Francken II, Lille Museum of Fine Arts
It is one of the better copies of a well-known Francken composition. This one doesn't have the more subdued colours of Frans Francken II, the sometimes pale blues and browns one often sees in his work.

The auction house, which seems to handle fine art not too often and doesn't have an up-to-date website (getting the work to you if you can't be at the auction in person may be harder or more expensive!), provides many pictures, but not one with a really good view of the work as a whole. Even so, it is clear that the work is painted skillfully and is in good condition overall.

Gallerie Barrez, from Paris, sold the above work as "attributed to Hieronymus Francken III". To me, the colours, and overall look, are very similar, so I presume that the one for sale now may also be attributed tentatively to him, or to the rather similar Ambrosius Francken II.



The work, as can be seen in the above details, is really a lot better than most Francken copies (but still far from a Frans Francken II original), and should be worth 2,000 to 3,000 Euro at least.

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