Unidentified copies at Carlo Bonte

Carlo Bonte, from Belgium, sells some at first sight interesting works in their auction on 27 March 2019. However, they turn out to be copies of better works, which is a pity.

Lot 979 is a Lamentation, described as "Southern Netherlands, 17th century, no visible signature", and estimated at 1,000 to 1,500 Euro. It is a rather dull copy of a Van Dyck from the Royal Museum of Antwerp.

Lot 996 is a Susanna and the Elders, with a description of "Southern Netherlands, 16th century", and an estimate of 2,000 to 3,000 Euro. It is based on a ca. 1600 engraving by Anthonie Wierix after a design by Maerten de Vos. As such, the estimate seems too high.

One other lot that caught my eye is 981, a series of 4 huge paintings (about 2 by 3 metres each!) by Flori Van Acker (Bruges, 1858-1940), neo-romantic painter and director of the Bruges Academy. The condition isn't brilliant, and they are not the best paintings ever, but these four together, some 20 square metres of painting by a known artist, are estimated at 500 to 1,000 Euro only! I guess in this case their size may actually be a disadvantage, as they are too big for most homes, and they seem to be unframed which would add a serious cost to get them presentable. The subject matter, missionary work, also isn't fashionable.

Still, even a work like the one above, in its typical provincial Art Nouveau advertising poster style (Neogothic with a flourish), should easily fetch the estimate on its own, as it is a striking image, done with great skill. It's hard to predict if this kind of painting will ever get fashionable again, but it seems unimaginable that they may get even less in favour than they are now.

Pandolfini part 2: Flemish Entombment

Pandolfini, from Italy, sells on 26 February 2019 a "Flemish School, 16th century" Entombment, estimated at 2,000 to 3,000 Euro.

The work seems, if one goes back far enough, to be based on a prototype by Dirk Bouts from ca. 1450, now in the National Gallery. The faded colouring is because this is a very rare surviving early painting on canvas instead of on panel.

But a closer parallel is with a work by the Master of Hoogstraten, now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp. This anonymous Master was active around 1500, and is named after an altarpiece from Hoogstraten, a regional center in the province of Antwerp with a beautiful grand church. This work is a piece of that altarpiece of the Seven Sorrows of Mary.

It seems as if the work for sale is still later and further removed from the Bouts original; the Hoogstraten version keeps the Bouts' right side (the Magdalene and the man), while the Lamentation in the background also reminds me of the Lamentation by Bouts from the National Gallery of Prague. But the position of the Christ, and his hands, are different from the Bouts and closer to the work for sale, as is the man on the left and the posture of the Virgin.

But the work for sale is not by or after the Master of Hoogstraten, sadly, it is a copy after an engraving by Antonie Wierix of a design by Marten de Vos from ca. 1585, as found at the Rijksmuseum. It is a fairly faithful copy, but excludes the extra elements of the Passion in the front, and the (somewhat greyed out) figure above and to the right of Mary, and the church in the background.

The best part of the work for sale, apart from the composition which isn't original, is the very fine colouring, which gives the whole a very pleasing appearance. But the execution lacks some finesse, the faces are a bit rough. All in all, the painting (which may well be early 17th century instead of 16th) is probably worth the estimate, but don't expect to buy something truly original.

UPDATE: sold for 2,750 Euro.

Overpriced, misattributed, misdescribed, but interesting anyway!

Marques dos Santos, from Portugal, sells on 13 December an "Attributed to Maerten de Vos" Coronation of the Virgin, estimated at 15,000 to 20,000 Euro.

The description goes on to state "in the center the Virgin, the Holy Trinity and Pope Sixtus VI, view of Antwerp in the background". The figure they claim to be Sixtus VI is God the Father, and the city one can view at the bottom is unidentified, but definitely not Antwerp.

The painting also has little to do with Maerten de Vos, his style is quite different, and better. Which brings me to the valuation, which seems very high for an iconographically very interesting work, but with little artistic value.

It is an extremely unusual version of the Coronation of the Virgin, which usually comes in two flavours; either Christ and God the Father are each to a side, and Mary is inbetween them, and they both are crowning her together. Or else you only get Mary and Christ side by side (the former seems to have been used more since the time of the Reformation, giving even more "credibility" to the status of Mary; the latter was mainly used in older depictions of the scene). But I have never seen one with a triple (though asymmetrical) throne with Mary on the side. It seems to be an effort, probably at the time of the Reformation and the Contrareformation, to get things doctrinally exactly right; getting such things wrong in those years could have very bad results for you...

Unrecognised copies after Teniers and after Maerten de Vos

Pousse-Cornet, from France, sells on 24 November 2018 a "Flemish School, 18th century" Banquet, estimated at 800 to 1200 Euro.

It is an unrecognised but fairly good copy after David Teniers the Younger, the "Feast of the Prodigal son" from the Louvre, which probably was a portrait of himself and his family. The version for sale is a bit blurry in the faces but otherwise better than most copies you'll find for this price. It probably is just not good enough to be considered a workshop version (it clearly isn't an original by Teniers, who is well-known for only painting one version of each painting himself, and letting his workshop make copies if needed), but I can see it going for 1,500 to 2,000 Euro.

And Madeleine, from France as well, sells a "Flemish School, 17th century" Last supper, a large canvas (90 by 170 cm) estimated at 800 Euro.

It is a copy after an engraving by Johannes Sadeler after a design by Maerten de Vos (found, as usual, on the site of the Rijksmuseum). The painter at least had the skills and originality to change it from a vertical work to a quite different horizontal one, moving figures around to achieve a better result in the new format. It is not the most popular design by De Vos, I couldn't immediately find other paintings with this design, and considering its size and age, I guess it will easily fetch the estimate.

"Circle of Van Kessel" is follower of Maerten de Vos

Herbette, from France, sells on 11 November 2018 a "Flemish School, 16th century, circle of Van Kessel" Adam and Eve, or the Earthly Paradise; a large canvas (105 by 151 cm) estimated at 15,000 to 20,000 Euro.

They don't indicate which van Kessel they mean, but that's not really essential. The painting is impressive, but the Adam and Eve are oddly amateuristic compared to most of the work. This is usually the sign of a copy, and this one is no exception.

Christie's sold in 2006 a "Maerten de Vos" Garden of Eden, an even larger work (143 by 208 cm) with nearly the same composition, but clearly better executed. It fetched $132,000.

The work had been sold at Christie's in 2003 as well, and had been restored in the three years since.

There are many changes between the work of de Vos and the work for sale, e.g. the position of many animals, so it may be that the work for sale is not based on this work directly, but on another version. But the essentials are obviously the same.

The work for sale, despite its shortcomings, is impressive enough that it may fetch the lower estimate.

"Italo-Flemish painter" is copy after Maerten de Vos

Lempertz, from Germany, sells on 16 May 2018 an "Italo-Flemish Master, 16th century" Scenes from the live of the virgin, estimated at 15,000 to 17,000 Euro.

At least two of the three panels, the Flight into Egypt and the meeting with Elizabeth, are copies after engravings by Maerten de Vos. Considering that the prints date to ca. 1598, it may be more likely that the paintings are 17th century than 16th century. The estimate seems a bit optimistic, even though they are fairly good copies and in a nice frame.

UPDATE: unsold, as expected

16th c. "Adoration of the Shepherds": Italian or Flemish?

Carlo Bonte, from Belgium, sells on 27 September 2017 a "16th century" Adoration of the Shepherds, estimated at 3,000 to 5,000 Euro.


I couldn't find an exact match for the composition so far, even though it reminds me of works by Jacopo Bassano. But in general the work looks like a Flemish interpretation of Italian examples.

The shepherd on the far left, for example, can also be found on Italian works, e.g. here from an "Italy, mid 16th century" anonymous work sold at La Suite Subastas.

On the Flemish side, it reminds me more in general of the work of e.g. Marten de Vos, like in the above engraving.

But like I said, I couldn't find a more closely related painting or engraving, so while it seems likely that this painting isn't an original composition but a copy of one or more older works (which would also explain the difference in quality between some parts of the work), I can not exactly pinpoint a time or place of origin.

The estimate seems about right though, as it is a pleasing work with enough quality to entice bidders.

UPDATE 19/09/2017: strangely enough, I found the figure of the "Italian" painting again, but now on an engraving after Maerten de Vos (by Sadeler), who I had already linked to the composition above! The Rijksmuseum led me to this engraving from ca. 1582. So while this doesn't really help us for the current painting, at least we can change the "Italian" painting from La Suite Subastas to "After Marten de Vos"...

UPDATE 20/09/2017: on Twitter,  AuctionRadar kindly showed another engraving after Maerten de Vos which contained other figures identical or very close to ones in this painting. The bowing shepherd holding his hat, some of the angels, and the figure of Joseph clearly are derived from this engraving (or from the painting at the origin of it). While I still haven't found all elements from the painting, it seems obvious that it should be considered the work of a Follower of Maerten de Vos.

"Attributed to Marten van Cleve" is copy after Maerten de Vos

Hampel, from Germany, sells on 30 June 2016 an "Attributed to Marten van Cleve" Adoration of the Shepherds, estimated at 16,000 to 18,000 Euro.

The RKD lists another version of the same composition, this time said to be "After Maerten de Vos", which is of much higher quality than the one for sale, despite being much smaller (15 by 10 cm only!, vs. 92 by 49). That work is half of a diptych together with a "Carrying of the Cross" (als pictured above).

The work for sale is a rather awkward copy and not worth the estimate by a wide margin. It can at best be described as by a Follower of Cleve.

Adoration, copy after Maerten de Vos

I was going to make a lengthy post explaining how this "Antwerp, around 1600" adoration (estimate 1,200 to 2,000 Swiss Francs) at Schuler is a copy after an engraving by Maerten de Vos, but this has been noted already in an update to a long and interesting page on the different "Adorations" by De Vos at the Art-Figuration blogspot. It's in French, but well worth the read if you are interested in this kind of things.

UPDATE: sold for 1,000 Swiss Francs.

Flight into Egypt, after Maerten de Vos

Koller, from Switzerland, sell on 16 September a "Flemish School, late 16th century" Flight into Egypt, an oil on copper estimated at 950 to 1,900 Euro.

It is a copy after an engraving by Maerten de Vos. A design for it is kept in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig, and is dated ca. 1580.

The engraving was relatively popular, and other paintings after it are known, e.g. the above which follows the original less closely, attributed to Adriaan de Weerdt and dated 1580-1590 (both images and the info come from the RKD).

Typical in copies after engravings is that every artist can choose his own colours, which makes for interesting comparisons sometimes. The one for sale now is probably doomed to remain anonymous, as the quality is adequate but not outstanding enough to point to any individual artist. The estimate seems about right, I can't see this not making 1,000 Euro. UPDATE: sold for 5,000 Swiss Francs or nearly 5,000 Euro, so way above estimate. Seems overpriced to me.