Two early "Saint Jerome in the wilderness" versions

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 25 February 2019 two paintings with "Saint Jerome in the wilderness".

The first is described as "Bruges School, ca. 1520" and is estimated at 5,000 to 7,000 Euro.

It is indeed very comparable to works attributed to Adriaen Isenbrant (ca. 1485-1551) or his circle. The first image is a poor reproduction of a painting from the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the second is an "attributed to" from an auction (no idea which though). The description and estimate for this one seem about right.

However, I then found one even closer match, at Karl & Faber auction house, where it is described as "Joachim Patinir".  That one was sold for 8,100 Euro. This one is clearly more of a match than the Isenbrandt ones (the left hand opening the habit, the deep "V" fold between the legs, the way the red mantle is draped over the tree...), so perhaps this one should be recategorised as "Follower of Patinir" as well?

The second is said to be "Flemish School, ca. 1600", with an estimate of 4,000 to 6,000 Euro. It seems to be older though, and looked at first closer to the works of Joachim Patinir.

The main figure turns out to be from a painting by Lucas Gassel (or a follower), known from a sale at Sotheby's in 2006 where it fetched £10,000. It also returns in an anonymous Flemish painting from the second half of the 16th century in the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht (via RKD).

Strange enough, another, almost identical version was sold at Christie's in 2012, but this time as the work of Patinir!

But it also has other Patinir elements, e.g. in the remarkable altar or shrine in front of Saint Jerome. It shares many characteristics with one in a painting sold at Dorotheum in April 2018 for 31,000 Euro, and which was described as Workshop of Patinir.

The Saint Jerome by a follower of Patinir, from the Houston Museum, has also such a shrine. It also has a similar cat with nine tails (or whatever the name is for that flagellation tool).

I think that this second Saint Jerome in the auction is dated somewhat too late, and is underestimated a bit. It should be worth 6,000 to 8,000 Euro instead.

UPDATE: first one unsold, second one sold for 4,000 Euro only.

UPDATE 2: first one again for sale at Horta on 17 June 2019, with a halved estimate of 2,500 to 3,500 Euro. 

"Flemish School" is copy after Adriaen Isenbrant

Millon, from France, sells on 16 March 2018 a "Flemish School, late 16th century" Mystic marriage, estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 Euro.

The work is a copy after a much better work by Adriaen Isenbrant now in the Alte Pinakothek, with altered colours, as if it is created after a drawing or a black-and-white photograph. It looks to be a lot later and may well be a 19th century. The estimate seems optimistic.

Flemish School triptych: major work by Adriaen Isenbrant, Hans Memling, or 19th-century pastiche?

Leslie Hindman, from the United States, sells on 23 January 2018 a "Flemish School, 15th / 16th century" triptych with the Virgin and Child in a landscape (central panel), and donors with saints (wings), estimated at $8,000 to $12,000. The website has the important addition "Uncertain of exact age of painting. May be later than the 15th/16th century date listed in the print catalogue.". 

My gut feeling is that it is a 19th century or early 20th century pastiche (a fake, we would call it now), based on colours, condition, and some incongruities, but it is hard to be certain based on online photographs only.

The composition is supposedly by Adriaen Isenbrant (ca. 1480-1551). Isenbrant was an important and rich painter in Bruges, one of the last in the line from Memling and Gerard David, before Antwerp took the dominant position in Flemish painting. The above is a work described by the RKD as "Anonymous Southern Netherlands, ca. 1500, free after Adriaen Isenbrant". The central figures are clearly the same as in the work for sale, but the quality here is much better.

I haven't been able to find the original by Isenbrant (I don't own the Friedländer volume on Isenbrant), but other works attributed to him certainly are somewhat comparable to what we have here.

So could this be an original by Isenbrant then? Perhaps, but it isn't the only element we can trace back to other artists.

The Saint Barbara on the right wing is almost identical to a Barbara painted by Memling on the right panel of the Moreel-triptych in the Groeningemuseum. The style of the face is more modern than Memling would use though, more the style of Isenbrant or Jan Provoost, so I guess we can abandon the attractive fancy that this is an unknown Memling triptych.

And this brings us to the for me most damning piece of evidence against this being a truly old masterpiece, a work made in Bruges ca. 1530 or so. The clothing of the female donor is 40 or 50 years out of fashion compared to the man, or compared to usual Isenbrant works.

E.g. these two wings with donor portraits show how the man is quite similar to the one for sale here, but the woman is totally different.

The face of the male donor is quite out of line with the style of the other parts of the triptych, almost as if the painter here instead of older paintings used a real person instead, and had trouble transposing him convincingly to an Isenbrant style.

And of course, as soon a you think to have nailed it with the clothing, you come across another work which shows the danger of leaping to conclusions. The Sedano triptych by Gerard David (where Isenbrant started his career in Bruges), from ca. 1495, shows the two donors in quite similar attire to what we have here. So it is possible to have an authentic work with this type of clothing!

If it is an original Bruges triptych from ca. 1500, it should be worth considerably more than the estimate, and I can't see this then going for less than 50,000€ (more if it would turn out to be by Isenbrant or another big name). But like I said, my gut feeling is still that this is a good pastiche, a skilled late 19th century painter taking elements from some Bruges paintings and creating a new triptych with them. It will be interesting to see the result of this one!

Nice collection at Galerie Moderne (part 2)

Galerie Moderne, from Belgium, sells on 14 November 2017 the small but nice collection of paintings from "Madame D." It doesn't contain any masterpieces, but it has a fair share of interesting, diverse, old paintings, and the catalogue is rather short on descriptions and attributions which gives me some space to deal with these.

Lot 203 is a "16th century Flemish" Saint John the Baptist, estimated at 2,500 to 3,500 Euro. The small (47 by only 18 cm) panel was probably the left wing of a diptych or triptych.

I haven't found other examples of the same position, but the style reminds me of some works by Adriaen Isenbrant. This work is probably from Bruges, ca. 1550, from the circle of Isenbrant, and the estimate seems about right.

The type harks back to examples by Memling and Gerard David, like in the above work by David from the Met.

UPDATE: sold for 2,400 Euro, as expected.

Lot 205 is a landscape "attributed to Lucas van Valckenborch", estimated at 4,000 to 6,000 Euro. The painting, "professionally" attributed with a Dymo label (!),  is probably not by Van Valckenborch (1535-1597), but by a follower of Patinir or Herri met de Bles. The jagged rock is typical for these artists and their followers. It's hard to put a name on it though, perhaps someone like Cornelis van Dalem (ca. 1530-1575)? The whole is evocative and typical for the period, but not really expertly executed.

A comparable Herri met de Bles is this work found at RKD, which was at the Schaeffer Galleries in the 1950s but I have no idea where it is now. It not only has the rock, but also a similar bridge and village (or cloister).

As a work by a follower of Bles, it probably is worth about the estimate: this type of work is always popular.

UPDATE: sold for 7,500 Euro, a bit above the high estimate.

"Italian School, 18th century" is follower of Marcellus Coffermans / Isenbrandt / Benson

Bremens Belleville, from France, sells on 19 March 2017 an "Italian School, 18th century" Virgin and Child, estimated at 800 to 1,200 Euro.

It is a late version of a purely Flemish work, originally by either Ambrosius Benson or Adriaen Isenbrant in Bruges in the early 16th century, and known from many versions of wildly varying quality. This one is far from the best, but the description is so far off that I couldn't resist writing about it anyway. I wrote previously about the same composition, the last time in September 2016.

Rosebery's, from England, sells on 29 March 2017 yet another version of this work, which at first I thought was also incorrectly described as "Follower of Marcellus Coffermans 1520-1578", estimated at £1,500 to £2,500.

Coffermans? Where did they get that idea from? Turns out that Sotheby's sold a similar work (also in an elaborate frame) in 2012 as by a "Follower of Coffermans", for which they got a nice £13,750.

So, what are the two works for sale worth? The French one is the worst of the lot, and probably the latest, and all power of the original composition has been dissolved in some sweet religious marketing colour scheme. Probably about wrth the estimate, as it isn't a truly bad painting and somewhat interesting as a late example of this composition, but nothing really attractive either. The Rosebery's one is a lot better, though still a far cry from the Sotheby's version or some of the older versions shown in earlier blog posts. Still, it should be worth £2,000.

"16th c. Flemish" is another good copy after Benson or Isenbrant

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 24 September 2016 a "Flemish Master, 16th century" Virgin and Child, a rather large version (107 by 76) on panel estimated at 800 Euro.

I have already blogged about other versions of this very popular work twice (June 2015 and December 2015). This one seems to be considerably better than the first one, which sold for 1,700 Euro.

It can be compared to e.g. the Carrickfergus Madonna, from the Ulster Museum, which is given as anonymous Flemish, early 16th, and has very similar dimensions. The curtains in the work for sale seem to be a later addition, the flowers may be original (I haven't immediately found another example that shows them though). 

While it doesn't look to be an original by Benson or Isenbrandt, it is a good copy, and should easily fetch 2,000 Euro or more.

Meanwhile, at Hampel (also from Germany), you can buy on 22 September 2016 another version, attributed to the School of Isenbrant and of similar dimensions, estimated at 24,000 to 28,000 Euro. While it has a much better background, the Virgin and Child are not really superior to the one at Hargesheimer (e.g; the hands are worse at Hampel), and it seems seriously overpriced to me.

UPDATE: the 800 Euro Hargesheimer one sold for 6,500 Euro, and the 24,000 Euro Hampel one remained unsold. 

"Circle of Adriaen Isenbrandt" is nice copy after Pieter Coecke

Leo Spik, from Berlin, sells on 14 April a "Circle of Adriaen Isenbrandt" Adoration of the Magi, estimated at 4,000 Euro.

The in parts heavily damaged panel is actually a copy after or workshop work of Pieter Coecke van Aalst. Only the position of the head of the kneeling King in the front has been changed; perhaps this is the portrait of the donor?

The style of some aspects of the work is quite different though. The head of the Virgin is much more in a Leonardesque sfumato-inspired style, and not the typical more Primitive Coecke style.

The work for sale should be worth a bit more than the estimate, but the damage will prevent it from really getting beyond 10,000 Euro probably.

Copy after Adriaen Isenbrant or Ambrosius Benson

Vanderkindere, auction house in Brussels, sells on 16 June 2015 a "Bruges School, ca. 1550(?)" Virgin and Child, estimated at 800 to 1,200 Euro.

It is an old but amateurish copy of a fairly popular late example of the Early Netherlandish painting in Bruges, evidence of how long such a style persevered and remained popular among the more general audience after the artistic style had changed and new influences had entered painting in Flanders. The original was painted by Adriaen Isenbrant (1490-1551). More or less authentic versions can be found in New York (Aurora Trust), and the Budapest Museum (pictured), and the RKD lists some 15 other copies after Isenbrant. Yet more versions are attributed to Ambrosius Benson and his circle.

Better copies of this work were e.g. sold at Dorotheum in Vienna in 2013 ($20,000, pictured) and at Christie's in 2011 (22,000 Euro). Other versions remained unsold at Sotheby's and Christie's in 2010. The one for sale now has more art historical than purely artistic value, but due to its age and story should easily fetch the estimate and could go to some 2,000 Euro instead. UPDATE: it sold for 1,700 Euro, double the original estimate.