Wednesday 24 April 2019

Reusing elements from engravings

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 29 April 2019 a "Flemish School, 17th century" Stoning of Saint Stephen, estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 Euro.

The work is not really impressive and looks likely to be based on an engraving. And while I haven't found a complete engraving this may be taken from yet, at least the central figure can be traced directly.


It comes from a work by Jacopo Palma, better known as Palma Vecchio (1480-1528), engraved by Aegidius Sadeler around 1600, which I found at the Rijksmuseum site.

As is obvious from the above comparison, the painter of the work for sale wasn't really a great talent, technically able to copy poses, but out of his depth when he had to create e.g. the face of the saint. This leads me to believe that the other figures also are copied after engravings. The value of the work is about 1,000 Euro. 

1 comment:

  1. The engraving is not after Palma il Vecchio, but after his nephew Palma il Giovane: they shared the same name (Jacopo), but one was 70 years younger than the other.
    MD

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