"Ca. 1900 Flemish work" is original by or good copy after Josef Janssens

Carlo Bonte, from Belgium, sells on 11 December 2018 a "Late 19th - Early 20th century, in the manner of the Flemish Primitives" Golgotha, a large work (108 by 137 cm) estimated at 600 to 1,000 Euro.

The work is a version of the Crucifixion by Josef Janssens de Varebeke (1854-1930), a religious painter working in a Neogothical style. He painted many portraits, but probably his most famous work is his "Our Lady of Sorrows" cycle in the Antwerp Cathedral. This series of seven works includes the original Crucixifion by Janssens.

The work for sale has more subdued colours, and harsher lines, making it look more modern, a move away from the Flemish Primitives and more pointing towards Flemish Expressionism. The removal of the halo's also gives it a less traditional, religious effect, and more a general image of mourning and loss.

It's hard to tell if this is a later version by Janssens, or a copy by a good artist. The estimate seems too low in either case, a copy of this quality should be worth 2,000 Euro, and an original by Janssens of his major work is probably closer to 10,000 Euro.

"Circle of Abraham Janssens" is copy after Willem van Herp the Elder

Oise enchères, from France, sells on 3 November 2018 a "Circle of Abraham Janssens" Vistation, a large work (112 by 162) estimated at 6,500 to 7,000 Euro.

It's an impressive, almost Rubensian work, but highly deficient when one looks at details, like faces. Either some extremely poor retoration has ruined the work (but this might be reversable), or (more likely) this is a copy after a very good work done by a patient but mediocre amateur. When copying a cloud or a dress, getting the positions slightly wrong isn't that important. When painting a face, the minutest details matter. The best thing about such copies is the renewed respect one gets for actual good painters, people who not only can invent these compositions, but paint them convincingly.

The same composition is known in multiple much better versions, originally by Willem van Herp, and also by Joseph Marie Vien. This makes the work more recent, as Janssens lived from 1575 to 1632, and Van Herp from 1613 to 1677 (and Vien from 1716 to 1809!).

The best-known version by Van Herp is kept in the Museum of Poitiers. The work, although on a smaller canvas, has a larger composition, adding some extra features left and right.

Even better is a version in a private collection, which probably is the actual original by Van Herp. This version was for sale in 2005 at Sotheby's, with a surprisingly low estimate of 15,000 to 20,000 Euro. I could see this go for 100,000 Euro if it came on the market now, as it is a very good painting from one of the best followers of Rubens.

Another good but dirty copy, with some additional foliage on the right side and at the top, sold at Sotheby's for £15,000. 

The version for sale though is a lot worse, and I doubt that anyone who has really looked at the painting and noticed these faces will be willing to spend 6,000 Euro on it.

Abraham Janssens, part 3

A short addition to my previous post: now Dorotheum (Austria) also sells on 10 December 2015 (tomorrow!) a "Flemish School, 17th century" estimated at 7,000 to 9,000 Euro.

It is a much better copy of the Allegory of Smell, one of the five senses by Abraham Janssens. Again unrecognised, of course...

More unrecognized Abraham Janssens copies

On Monday I blogged about an unrecognized copy after Abraham Janssens coming up for sale. As is so often the case, these things seem to come in small waves, as here are five others in the same situation!

Brussels Art Auctions sells on 15 December 2015 a "17th century, Antwerp School" series of five small paintings (37 by 30 cm) depicting the five senses, estimated together at 7,000 to 10,000 Euro. Only four of them are shown at the auction site (and here), "Hearing" is missing.

Such series were very popular in 16th and 17th century Flanders, ranging from the four seasons and the five senses to the 12 Sibyls, kings, months, or the 12 proverbs by Brueghel in the Mayer Van den Bergh Museum.

This particular series is a copy after the works of Abraham Janssens, which seem only to be known through copies, though usually of a much higher quality. The above "Sight", from Hampel Auctions, was estimated at 70,000 to 90,000 Euro on its own (but apparently not sold). A poorer copy, but still clearly better than what is for sale now, was sold at Christie's in 2001 for 4,495 Euro (as an Allegory of Vanity).

The above "Feeling" was sold at Dorotheum in 2009 for 18,600 Euro. Copies of the "Taste" can also be found online, e.g. one sold at Dorotheum in 2000 for 15,000 Euro, but unrecognised as one of the senses and described instead as "Gipsy woman, allegory of beauty or Vanitas".

The most complete series of copies I could find was a series of 4 sold at Neumeister in 1999 for 23,000 Euro. It included the one work not depicted here, "Hearing", together with Sight, Feeling and Smell (and missing Taste).

All five works appear on the market regularly in copies, though rarely if ever as a full series, so in that regard this is a chance to get a poor but complete copy of a famous series. But the estimate seems a bit high anyway, I can't see people paying more than 1,000 Euro each for these, or 5,000 Euro together.

Tajan: "Environment of Gerard Seghers" is copy after or workshop of Abraham Janssens

Tajan, from Paris, sells on 17 December 2015 a "Flemish School, ca. 1640, environment of Gerard Seghers" Angels with the dead Christ, estimated at 4,000 to 6,000 Euro.

It is a copy after or workshop variation of a work by Abraham Janssens from ca. 1610, the original of which can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It looks to be a copy (it probably isn't good enough to be a workshop version), but a fairly good one. The main differences are in the foreground, the work for sale has the crown of thorns while the original has other elements of the passion, including something that may be the grail. The hand, visible beneath the left knee, is also missing in the copy. It would be interesting to know if the Met version has alterations, perhaps the copy matches the original version or an older idea of the composition? At least one other version exists (mentioned in the notes at the Met entry), but I haven't found an image of it.

The estimate may be a bit too high for a copy, but one never knows. UPDATE: indeed too high, not sold!