"Antwerp Master" is Circle of Frans Pourbus the Younger

Plückbaum, from Germany, sells on 29 October 2016 as lot 1499 an "Antwerp Master,  late 16th c., ca. 1600" portrait of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, estimated at 1,600 Euro.

The portrait is a  weaker version of the many portraits painted of the duke by his court painter, Frans Pourbus the Younger. While not comparable to the best of the pourbus portraits, it still is a good example and may be described at the very least as Circle of Pourbus.

Sotheby's sold this year a Studio portrait of Vincenzo Gonzaga for $37,500 . It was better than the one here though.

Looking at the picture, it seems to be one of the later portraits of the duke, so closer to 1610 probably. It should be worth 3,000 to 4,000 Euro.

UPDATE: not sold, contrary to what I expected. Perhaps people think it is a much later copy?

"Flemish, ca. 1600" is a nice Francken with variations

Plückbaum, from Germany, sells on 4 June 2016 a "Flemish School, ca. 1600" Mocking of Christ (lot 985), estimated at 680 Euro.

It is a variation of a work by the Francken family I already discussed last year, and a good one at that. It is also, for this type of work, relatively large (92 by 74cm), compared to the usual 65 by 50 cm of similar works.

The Christ figure can be found nearly identical on multiple other works (one example from Zeller 2007, one from Sotheby's with a different head position, other examples shown in the previous blog linked above). The "clothing", the way the cloth is draped, seems slightly more modern or sophisticated in this example though, perhaps pointing in the direction of Hieronymus Francken II or III?

The main difference with all other versions I could find images of (and there are quite a few of those, e.g. at RKD and Balat) is in the figures facing Christ. The kneeling, jeering man with the red pants has some similarities with other figures in contemporary Mocking of Christ works, but no direct counterpart, which is unusual in these Francken works.

The closest seems to be this copy after Francken work from the Abbey of Tongerlo (picture courtesy of Balat).

This Francken (from the TaxandriaMuseum in Turnhout) also shows a similar composition, but seen from a completely different place. (picture again from Balat).

This makes it clear that such a kneeling figure mocking Christ is not uncommon in the work of the Franckens (and their followers), even though we have no immediate example for the current composition.

Overall, this is one of the better versions of this very popular Francken studio work, with some "unique" (or at least uncommon) elements, and should be worth 3,000 to 5,000 Euro easily instead of the estimated 680.

A sleeper Palamedesz?

At Plückbaum, an auction house in Bonn, Germany, they sell a Dutch 17th century master, "Couple riding horses in landscape", 158 by 130 cm, estimated at 2,200 Euro.

The same composition, but a lot smaller (41 by 32 cm) and much more sketchy, was for sale at Christie's in 2005 (unsold, estimated £1,200 to £1,800). That one was said to be by Palamedes Palamedesz, a Dutch painter from about 1607-1638.

I can't find no paintings comparable to the one for sale from Palamedesz, most are much smaller and busier. Of course, if the composition of the small one is by Palamedesz, then the second argument is invalid. The size as well is hardly an argument to dismiss this one, it's just unusual but not unheard of to find large Palamedesz works. Then we are left with the style. The one for sale is clearly more finished, supporting the theory that  the small one was a preparation for a large work. But is "this" the final version or just a copy after the final version? The latter would also be interesting, but the former much more so obviously.

The one for sale is far from brilliant, but then again, we are talking Palamedesz here, not Van Dyck or other contemporaries. Someone with a lot more knowledge of Palamedesz should judge this. But it certainly makes this to me a lot more interesting than the usual anonymous work.