Teniers the Much Younger

One has to wonder, when one encounters copies after recently found originals, or things recently for sale, and the like, whether the ones for sale now are also old copies or new forgeries trying to imitate old copies? Making a poor "after Teniers" copy is obviously much easier than making a fake Teniers, and no one will bother doing any serious tests (like dendrochronology) to test whether it is really an old painting or not...

As an example, of which I don't know whether it is old or not, but where I have my doubts: Fairfield Auctions LLC sells a "Flemish School, 18th century" tavern scene, estimated at $500 to $750. Ticks all the right boxes for a Teniers copy, but for the fact that it has bright colours instead of some murky brown, but that's surely a plus?

The back of the painting is a mess, but surely something that has survived 300 years or so should look like that? Even though it looks like the match between the frame and the painting has only been made very recently, that doesn't mean that the painting can't be old?

On ArtValue, I found a "similar" painting "after Teniers" that sold for 1,500 Euro at Artcurial in 2012. And now we have for sale an image that is completely identical in every detail, but for the second smoker on the left, and the one entering on the right. There is one slight problem with the person entering the pub on the right; he is entering through the fireplace ;-) If you are not sure about this, then check this other Teniers copy, sold at Christie's, which shows the exact same fireplace but now completely.

So, is the one for sale a recent fake? I have no evidence, and I haven't actually handled the painting, but I would be very, very wary of buying such a thing.

Early Netherlandish Madonna

At Fairfield Auctions in Connecticut, they sell on 22 March 2015 a Madonna, probably 16th century, from the "Continental School". Estimated at $800 to $1,200. No idea if it is worth a lot more, but it certainly should fetch $1,000 easily.

It looks to me like a Flemish panel of ca. 1500-1550, assuming it isn't a later pastiche. I can't find other examples of the same type. The face type fits in the tradition of Bouts of Van der Goes, even somewhat reminding me of Geertgen of Sint Jans, but is not of the same quality as any known artist. But it has a lot of charm and intrigues with its original image. The crown is somewhat too large though...

This is a painting of the Saint Queen Isabel, by a follower of Quentin Massys. It dates from the same period as the painting for sale. The eyes are even more closed on this one.

Dirk Bouts and his followers painted a number of similar full frontal religious portraits in the same vein.

Possibly the same subject, but presented quite differently (and obviously much better) is the Regina Caeli by Van Eyck. Whether the painting for sale also depicts a Crowned Mary, or some Queen or other Saint, is not immediately obvious here. The lack of any halo may point in a more secular direction, but this isn't conclusive (and the painting has suffered over the ages, so it may well be that it looked different originally).

A reader sent me a link to another similar (though much better) painting, from the Liechtenstein Collections.