"Flemish School" is copy after Rubens

Pandolfini, from Italy, sells on 13 February 2018 a "Flemish School, 17th century" Bacchic scene with a satyr, estimated at 8,000 to 12,000 Euro.

Some other versions of the same work have appeared at auction over the last few years.

The first one was sold as a "Follower of Rubens", lacks the upper half of this work, and has a tigress instead of some dog.

The second was described as "circle of Rubens" and has the same satyr, but is even more different in other aspects.

All seem to go back to a composition by Rubens. I haven't found the original, but an engraving by Lucas Vorsterman can be found at the Rijksmuseum. While the satyr and animal clearly are taken from this work, all copies have putti which this version of the original hasn't. So it may well be that another Rubens original exited with these variations.

The work for sale has some good elements, and overall it is a good composition, but the work is very brown  (and unlikely to become colourful when cleaned, I think), and has many elements which are rather sketchy as well (as in the second image). This is not du to the scale of the work; it is a large canvas, 174 by 126 cm, so such deficiencies will be more apparent in real life.

Flemish School Eliezer: many variations with many different attributions

Rouillac, from France, sells on 11 June 2017 a "Flemish school, ca. 1560, circle of the Master of the Prodigal Son" Eliezer and Rebecca at the well, estimated at 2,000 to 3,000 Euro.

The composition is known from a fairly large number of copies, some anonymous, some tentatively attributed to a named master, but all of them apparently to a different master.

The RKD lists one from the circle of Maerten de Vos (sold at Dorotheum in 2007), an anonymous 1st half 16th century (sold at Sotheby's in 2004), a slightly later anonymous (ca. 1565) also from Sotheby's 2004 (which is very close to the one for sale), a third anonymous 2nd half 16th, sold at Sotheby's in 2006 (close to the 1565 version), an anonymous ca. 1560 version from the National Gallery of Ireland (also close to the 1565 version), and a Follower of Frans Floris from the Museum of Troyes (again close to the work for sale).

Older, rejected attributions relating it to Lambert Lombard, or the Master of the Prodigal Son abound as well.

A drawing by Hans Bol also seems to be related, but is less closely related than the two groups we can identify in the above list of illustrations.

Outside of the RKD, I can find some other versions also attributed to Marten de Vos or his circle.

The work for sale is not good enough to be attributed to any known painter, and I don't see more affinity with the Master of the Prodigal Son than with Frans Floris or with Marten de Vos. It would be interesting to found the originals behind these compositions though. The estimate seems about right, I certainly can't see it going for more.

"Creation of the Animals", the sequel

A few months ago I posted about a "Creation of the Animals" for sale at Hampel (Germany), for which I had found another version in the Musée Calvet in France.

I just realised that yet another version of the same work can be found in Antwerp, in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. It was only gifted to the Museum after the date of my full catalogue, and the Museum is closed for serious renovations (reopens 2017), so that may excuse why I didn't know about it, but still it feels a bit stupid!

The Antwerp version lacks most of the fallen angels, but is otherwise nearly identical. The Hampel version is only 75 by 62 cm though, while the Antwerp one is 133 by 121 cm. It is attributed to an "Anonymous Flemish Master, 16th century, Joachim Patinir, Simone de Myle, Herri met de Bles". The latter three names may indicate an environment they place it in. I hadn't heard of Simone de Myle yet

Searching him brings me to yet another smaller (73 by 63cm) version, this time attributed to "Circle of Simon de Myle" and in much worse condition, which sold at Aguttes in France in 2011 for 4,000 Euro.

Simon de Myle is basically known from one work, a very good "Noach's Ark" which is indeed similar in style, but less naive, more correct in a Dürer-like style (the animals!). Still, we are getting closer to putting a name to this work, and we now have four versions of it, which gets interesting. This de Myle work, by the way, sold at Sotheby's in 2011 for more than 1 million Euros! Just imagine that you bought the Hampel one for 8,000 Euro and would be able to prove that it is by De Myle...

The RKD lists one other work by De Myle, but it is quite different and much further away from the Creation of the Animals.