"Circle of Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert" is by or close by Erasmus Quellinus II

Van Ham, from Germany, sells on 30 January 2019 a "Circle of Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert" Virgin and Child with John the Baptist, estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 Euro.

The work is a typical Antwerp work from around 1650, strongly inspired by Rubens and especially Van Dyck, and clearly made by a talented painter.

It doesn't really look like Bosschaert to me, but I have found another artist with a similar style and with some elements in other works which are very close to the one for sale: Erasmus Quellinus II (1607-1678) (I know, it would have been more of a surprise if I hadn't put it in the title of this post, but this make searching for it easier afterwards 😊)

The above work is from the Museo de la Fundación Lázaro Galdiano in Madrid, and dated to about 1640. Especially the child is nearly identical, but also many other aspects in the work for sale remind me of the Quellinus. The condition is a lot worse, and makes it harder to judge if it may really be by him, or by a good follower: my gut instinct tells me that it probably is a real Quellinus II though.

Even in this condition, it should probably be worth 5,000 Euro; and it seems likely that the work will reappear, beautifully restored, at auction or at an art fair next year.

UPDATE: sold for 7,000 Euro!

UPDATE 2: sold for 52500 Euro at Lempertz in 2020 as a work by Quellinus!!! It's nice to see, when revisiting these blog posts years later, that among my many rather optimistic attempts, there also were some cases where I was spot-on. 

"17th c. Flemish painter" is studio of Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert

Cambi, from Italy, sells on 17 May 2017 a "17th century Flemish painter" Bacchanal, estimated at 9,000 to 12,000 Euro.

It is a version of a work by Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert (1613-1654), a good painter from the circle of Rubens and Jordaens.

Another version, with a background by Jan Davidsz. de Heem, was sold in 1998 at Christie's for $101,000. The one for sale lacks that extra bit and will be worth less, but the estimate is very reasonable, probably because they couldn't put a name to it. The work was offered with a similar estimate and description last year at Cambi as well.

UPDATE: sold for 10,000 Euro, I wonder if it will appear again with the right name added.

"Flemish painter, 17th century" is probably a workshop version by Thomas Willebroirts Bosschaert

Cambi, from Italy, sells on 4 May 2016 a "Flemish painter, 17th century" bacchanale, a very large painting (128 by 214 cmà estimated at 10,000 to 12,000 Euro.

It is a different version of a work by Thomas Willebroirt Bosschaert, nearly equally large but square. That version, which has as a bonus a much better background by Jan Davidsz de Heem, sold for $100,000 at Christie's in 1998.

The version for sale now is very good, but I would guess that it's a workshop version rather than a single-handed Bosschaert work. Looking at it in detail still shows a very attractive work, while most copies of such works fail in that regard.

As such, I would expect it to be worth closer to 20,000 Euro.

UPDATE: while many paintings in this auction seriously surpassed the estimates, this one barely fetched the minimum estimate of 10,000 Euro. It's a strange business.