Circle of Clouet: better or worse after cleaning?

Capes Dunn, from Manchester, sells on 8 September a "Circle of François Clouet" portrait of a lady, estimated at £1,500 to £2,500.

It is a nice enough painting, which should easily fetch the estimate. But when researching it, I found an auction from Bassenge, Germany, in May 2013, of another painting with the same dimensions and a very similar composition, but some very different details. It looks almost certain that it is the same painting, but that it has been cleaned or restored since rather thoroughly. Whether what we see now is closer to the original or is more of an over-restoration is not really clear, I prefer the pre-restoration version. The Bassenge one was described as "French, ca. 1580" and estimated at 5,000 to 7,500 Euro, so if we are to believe the estimates then restoring this painting has made it worth less...UPDATE: sold for £4,500!

UPDATE 2: or not sold after all? It is again for sale at Capes Dunn on 1 December 2015 with an estimate of  £1,500 to £2,500, the same as the previous estimate. I guess the earlier sell fell through somehow.

More highlights from Vanderkindere, including a portrait close to Clouet

A very interesting auction at Vanderkindere tomorrow. I already highlighted two paintings the previous two days, a Workshop of Rubens and a follower of Dirk Bouts. Other (to me) interesting works include;

A painting (preparatory oil sketch?) of some prophet or philosopher, attributed to Gaspar de Crayer. The face is very convincing, the remainder is more schematic. Estimated at only 600 to 800 Euro. UPDATE: Sold for 600 Euro, which still seems a bergain to me.

A self portrait by 19th century artist Ferdinand De Braekeleer.  Nothing spectacular, but to get a nice self portrait drawing by a well-known artist for only an estimated 100 to 150 Euro is a bargain. UPDATE: sold for 500 Euro, so some people agreed with me.

A portrait of Duchess Catherine de la Valette, situated in the circle of François Clouet. I'm not convinced that this isn't a much later fake/copy, but it's hard to judge from the screen. The face isn't "primitive" enough to be a French mid-16th century portrait. On the other hand, it is very nicely painted and quite intriguing.

If it is 16th-century and French, then it is worth a lot more than the estimate of 3,000 to 4,000 Euro. UPDATE: sold for 7,000 Euro!

The above is a comparable detail from a Clouet portrait. To my unspecialized eyes, the Valette portrait looks later, more "porcelain"-like, but this may be due to condition of course. The similarities are certainly there. On the other hand, some Clouet paintings have a similar look to them, like the one below:

But that one (detail from "The Love Letter") is more sculpted than the one for sale... So I don't know, but it certainly is a painting that should get some serious scientific attention to determine whether it is a very, very good 16th century French portrait, or some random later portrait that has been made to look as if it is old..

ADDENDUM 10/02/2015

Could it be a Dumonstier? The Dumonstiers were a family of French portrait painters in the wake of Clouet. Etienne was the best, but Pierre Dumonstier the Elder (ca. 1545-1625) has made a portrait of  Bernard de Nogaret, Seigneur de la Valette in about 1585.

I also found a portrait painted by "the environment of" Daniel Dumonstier, another member of the family, which is close in style and dress to the one for sale. Dated to ca. 1630, this seems closer to the date for our lot here. Looking at other works by the Dumonstiers and certainly Daniel, I would attribute this lot to Daniel Dumonstier with some certainty. Whether the inscription is original is not certain, and the jewellery (the crown and the earrings) seem like later additions as well (duchesses normally don't wear crowns anyway, do they?), but the portrait is probably an original seventeenth-century French portrait of decent quality.