"Late 17th century" is copy after lost Carracci

Carlo Bonte, from Belgium, sells on 11 December 2018 a "Late 17th century" portrait of Christ, estimated at 1,500 to 2,500 Euro.

It is a fairly good copy after Annibale Carracci, his now lost (presumably destroyed in WWII) head of Christ from the Dresden Museum. It probably isn't worth much more than the estimate, but copies after lost works are always interesting, and linking such an anonymous work with obvious quality to a known work is what this blog often is about, so... The work for sale has the same dimensions as the original, and probably the same colours, but it is less convincing (which may be improved by cleaning it), and painted on canvas instead of on copper, as the original was.

"17th century Flemish School" is Italian, after Carracci

Minerva, from Italy, sells on 27 November a "Flemish School, 17th century" Deposition of Christ, a small oil on copper (24 by 34 cm) estimated at 1,500 to 2,500 Euro.

The work looks much more Italian than Flemish, e.g. the much cooler colours (which is in a way remarkable, one would associate Northern countries with cooler, more subdued and greyish colours, and the more Southern countries with more flamboyant, lively colours: but at least in the 17th century, the opposite is often true) or the way shadows are painted.

And sure enough, this Lamentation (more so than a Desposition) turns out to be a copy after an 1598 engraving by Annibale Carracci (engraved by his brother Agostino).

The painting isn't completely identical, especially the head of Saint John is situated lower, while the head of the woman (another Mary probably) supporting the Virgin is somewhat further away than in the engraving: so it may be based on another version of the original, and not on this engraving. but in any case it isn't an original, it is a good copy but some elements (e.g. the hand of the Virgin) are just not good enough by far to be by Carracci. Many other elements, like the folds in the clothing or the texture of skins, aren't good enough either. Of course, the painting is small, making it harder to get these things right probably.

Nevertheless, this is a good painting, probably 17th century, and should fetch the estimate without much problems. But for collectors of Flemish paintings it has little or no interest.

Italian 16th c. pietà is copy after Carracci

Neumeister, from Germany, sells on 6 July 2016 an "Italy, 2nd half 16th c." Pieta, estimated at 2,000 to 3,000 Euro.

It's a powerful painting, but dirty and damaged and perhaps painted somewhat simplistic. It looks later than the 16th c., I would guess 17th c.

Searching for an artist or origin, I came across art shop Rubylane.com, which sells an "18th c. Baroque" pieta with the same composition, but with differences (e.g. a putto instead of John the Baptist).

Both turn out to be adapted reversed copies of a Pietà by Annibale Carracci from ca. 1600, which makes it clear that auction dating is some 100 years (or more) off. The copies, reversed and with different colours, are likely based off an engraving and not from the original painting. Whether that makes it worth more or less than the estimate depends on how much you like it, it certainly won't be worth much more. I do wonder how much the Rubylane site charges for their copy though!