Another copy of the "Triumph of David"

Finally a new post, I have been very busy and so have little time to spare for this blog. I have probably missed a lot of interesting paintings recently...

Hejtmanek, from Czechia, sells on 6 June 2019 a "Circle of Antoon Claeissens" Triumph of David, estimated at 12,400 Euro.

I have already discussed another copy (with the same dimensions) of this painting in November 2018, when I mistakenly thought it was the same version as the one shown on the RKD. That one was sold as "Northern School", and I placed it close to Frans Floris.

Apparently this was again one of those typical popular Flemish paintings from the late 16th century, made in multiple copies of varying quality, but otherwise very close to each other. This is a good but not brilliant copy, and it may struggle to fetch the estimate. I still believe it to be closer to Floris than to Claeissens.

UPDATE: sold right at the estimate, 12,500 Euro.

"Northern School" is close to Frans Floris

Herry & Muon, Beaune, in France, sells on 11 November 2018 a "Northern School, late 16th or early 17th century" Triumph of David, estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 Euro.

It is an oil on panel with a nice size (73 by 103) which was sold nearly ten years ago, in 2009, at Ketterer in Munich, according to the RKD. The painting seems to have suffered somewhat in the past 10 years though.

The style of the figures and faces reminds me of the work of Frans Floris, and a very similar work was offered at Dr. Fischer as "School of Frans Floris" with an estimate of 25,000 to 30,000 Euro! The work for sale is less enticing, but should still be worth around 4,000 Euro.

UPDATE: as was pointed out to me on Twitter, the RKD version is NOT the same as the one for sale now, but another (nearly identical) version in much better condition.

"Resurrection" may be close to Frans Floris

Audap Mirabaud, part from the Drouot Group from France, sells on 22 June 2018 a "Flemish School, circa 1580" Resurrection of Christ, estimated at 6,000 to 8,000 Euro.

They seem to have tried to sell it before, without success. It is a rather interesting and good painting though.

I haven't found another copy of this composition (which is rather unusual for a good, well-composed painting from this period). But some elements point to specific artists.

The central Christ is very reminiscent of the one in the Resurrection by Hendrick De Clerck, from the National Museum in Warsaw. Even though the body is reversed left-right, but the arms aren't, it still seems to be based on the same model, with Christ sitting, with the feet crossed in the same way, the right arm raised in a similar way, and so on.

But the general style reminds me most of Frans Floris (1516-1570). On the one hand we have the above engraving, from the Art Institute of Chicago, which has a similar position for the soldier on the right (back to us, same sword, same style); and on the other hand we have paintings like "The awakening of the arts", which shows his typical and quite unusual use of many splotches of pink (mainly pink clothing) throughout the work, which is also an eye-catching aspect of the work for sale (the pink boots of the soldier on the right especially).

The work probably isn't really by Frans Floris, there are some quality issues in some faces, but on the other hand e.g. the main soldier is beautifully painted. Perhaps it has been copied with great care from an unidentified engraving, but if it is an original work, then it has been done by a fairly good painter. The current estimate in any case seems very reasonable.

UPDATE: apparently not sold, again for sale at same auction house on 28 November 2018 with an estimate of 3,000 to 5,000 Euro.  No idea why this painting has such trouble finding a buyer.

UPDATE 2: now again for sale at Hampel (28 March 2019), either same painting cleaned or a different version of the same dimensions, and nearly identical in all details except the colour of the central figure. Estimate 7,000 to 9,000 Euro, attributed to Joachim Wtewael this time.

"Antwerp School, late 16th" is a copy after Frans Floris

Hôtel des Ventes Evreux, from France, sells on 29 January 2017 an "Antwerp School, late 16th century" Christ and the Samaritan woman, estimated at 3,000 to 4,000 Euro.

The painting is a much weaker version of a composition sold at Bukowski's from Stockholm in 2013 for 6,000 Euro. The main interesting factor of the work for sale is that it is larger, while the one at Bukowski's may have been cut down, so the one now is in that regard perhaps closer to the original. In everything else it is farther removed though, and it may be a lot more recent as well. It certainly doesn't seem to be worth 3,000 Euro if you could have had that other version for 6,000 Euro. An estimate of 1,000 to 1,500 Euro seems the maximum this may achieve, assuming that it is 17th century or older at least.

Unknown Flemish Virgin and Child composition, ca. 1550 at Vanderkindere

Vanderkindere, from Brussels, sells on 21 June 2016 a "Circle of Frans Floris I" Virgin and Child, estimated at 3,000 to 4,000 Euro.

A reader pointed out the striking resemblance to a work for sale (but unsold) last year at Alcala, in Spain;  described as "Circle of Jan Gossaert, Antwerp, ca. 1530)" and somewhat bigger than the one for sale here (100 by 75 cm vs. 75 by 63 cm): it had a starting price of 50,000 Euro, which turned out to be too steep.

The weird thing is that I can find no other examples of this composition before these two ones, which come fairly close to one another. Still, both look authentic to me (and the auction houses), so no need to immediately suspect fakes.

The Alcala is the better painting, but that doesn't answer the questions of origin, date, artist... Probably Antwerp, ca. 1530-1550, but beyond that? I have looked at hundreds of Virgin and Childs, paintings and engravings, and one can see similarities with the works of Bartholomeus Spranger, even Jacques Caillot, but these are coincidences and common image language, not any indication of who painted this. 

So, an Antwerp School Virgin and Child, with one other equally anonymous example known; a composition that is unique to those two (nothing remotely similar could be found), but they aren't copies of each other (at most, the Vanderkindere may be a copy of the Alcala, but with enough differences, and by a different hand). Even so, the Vanderkindere one should fetch 10,000 Euro probably as a high quality early 16th century Flemish painting which is unusual but decorative, more so than many of the more traditional Virgin and Child depictions.

UPDATE: sold for 3,000 Euro.

UPDATE 2: now (on 6 August 2016) for sale at Accademia Fine Art in Monaco as "Circle of Maarten van Heemskerck" with an estimate of  4,500 to 6,500 Euro. No idea if Heemskerck is any closer than other contemporary names, it certainly isn't too farfetched, and like I said I believe it to be worth more than the 3,000 Euro it fetched initially. We'll see!

Is this painting good enough to be by Frans Floris?

Rouillac, French auction house, sells a portrait of a lady by Frans Floris, estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 Euro.

While the painting is clearly in the style of other Floris head studies, I don't see the necessary quality here to call it "by Floris", more "after" or "in the style of". The ear is awkward, the eyes are all wrong (especially her left eye, but also the fact that she seems to be looking in two directions at once), the head placed incorrectly on the body, the chin isn't parallel to the mouth, the clothing is too simplistic... The painting is damaged and dirty, but I don't believe that underneath it lurks a real Floris.

Compared with another similar head study (from the Hermitage), the differences become quite apparent. The composition is a lot more detailed, the anatomy much better, the shadows more consistent (in the one for sale, the light seems to hit her nose on one side but her neck on another side!).

Another one also shows the perfect grasp of shadows and anatomy, the detail in the eyes, ...

And that's comparing it with the most similar one I could find, not with one of the best, like this one from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

In 2012, you could buy the above painting by Floris, a similar subject with similar dimensions, for 7,400 Euro at Christie's. Why would anyone pay a lot more now for a clearly inferior one which probably isn't by Floris or (at best) needs an expensive restoration to bring it back up to standards? UPDATE: sold for 14,000 Euro, so my opinion was clearly not shared by everyone. I still think it is way too much, and much better comparable paintings can be bought for that kind of money.

Sotheby's "Antwerp School": Frans Floris or Michiel Coxie?

Sotheby's sells on 4 June 2015 an "Antwerp School, 16th century" Adam and Eve from a private collection in Germany, 139 by 107 cm and estimated at $40,000 to $60,000. For that amount, one could hope for a little more information, as one can fairly easily say a lot more about this painting and the possible artists.

I could find with some online searching 3 other versions of this painting. In the Malmö Konstmuseum is a nice version attributed to Frans Floris I, and dated ca. 1560. It is some 143 by 112 cm (and not 14,3 by 11,2 as Wikimedia Commons mistakenly claims).

Another version, attributed to Michiel Coxie (a regular on this blog the last few weeks), can be found in the Sydney University Museum. The only images I found were from some university publication pdf, and no dimensions were listed.

Finally, the RKD lists a third version, attributed to Coxie (and earlier described as "manner of Frans Floris I"), also without dimensions, which was in the private collection of Dr. Franz Josef Fröhlich, Würzburg. Despite being in a German private collection, it isn't the same as the one for sale now (this one and the Malmö one have a more "decent" Eve, while the one for sale and the Sydney one only provide Adam with a fig leaf).

I don't consider the one for sale to be significantly inferior to the other versions (and the estimated price reflects this), but would be interested to know why Christie's doesn't mention or accept either of the two common attributions and simply chooses "Antwerp School" (correct, but boringly cautious). The estimate seems about right, I can't see this painting making much more, considering the prices genuine and certain Floris or Coxie paintings make. UPDATE: not sold.