"Niccolo di Buonaccorso and workshop" is a follower of the Master of San Jacopo a Mucciana

Roquigny, from France, sells on 1 January 2019 a "Niccolo di Buonaccorso and his workshop" Virgin and Child triptych, estimated at 15,000 to 25,000 Euro.

The more detailed full description makes it clear that they don't believe it to be actually a work by Niccolo di Buonaccorso, but perhaps by a collaborator or pupil, which is not really the same as the short description made us believe. They also mention other artists like the Master of the Pieta, Paolo di Giovanni Fei, and Francesco di Vanuccio, and make it clear that the triptych must be placed in Siena.

An artist they don't mention though is the Master of San Jacopo a Mucciana, a Florentine (not Sienese) master active around 1390-1420. He has painted the almost same composition, not some similar work like the Buonaccorso shown above.

This work, from a private collection in Italy (two images from Fondazione Zeri), is dated to the end of the 14th century, and is very close to the one for sale in many respects, much more so than the Buonaccorso.

The stipple effect in the clothing, the strange position of the Christ child, the general posture of the Virgin (central and in the annunciation), the decoration in the gold leaf paint... All this makes it clear that either the work for sale is a copy after the Master of San Jacopo a Mucciana, or both are based on the same work. The work for sale doesn't seem to be good enough to be directly by the Master of San Jacopo a Mucciana, but the condition isn't good enough to really judge this.

Some elements which differ between the two paintings seem to be taken from other works by the same Master: e.g. both the clothing of the virgin (the neckline), the hand position and the flower in it (very vague in the work for sale), and the child with a scroll and an orb, are taken from a Virgin and Child from the Museo di Santa Verdiana  in Castelfiorentino.

An interesting work in any case, it may be worth the estimate, but it probably has not got the right attribution.

UPDATE: sold for 58,000 Euro instead!

Laundry day

Bruno Roquigny, from Saint-Valéry-en-Caux, in France, sells on "1 January" an "Exceptional German painting", without further information so far.

It looks to be a very early listing, hence the lack of information, the strange date, and the fact that there are so far only two items in the auction.

But the painting nevertheless looks very interesting indeed. Late medieval depictions of laundry day, or the belaching of the linen, are fairly rare (most everyday acticities are rarely depicted, and those of women more so than those of men). They usually appear in series of the months of the year (or the seasons), and this one probably is no different.

The closest example I could find was from the "Splendor Solis", a German alchemy text from the early 1530s. The painting seems to date from about the same time, which would make it a very early work of this kind. Of course, it may equally be a hundred years more recent, things didn't change that fast in these days. The style is somewhat naive but at the same time rather accomplished, with enough individualism in the faces, clothing and poses to make it captivating and life-like. It may well be German, as indicated by the auctioneer, but Flemish or Dutch seem equally possible. I see no possibility to attach a name to it, it has some resemblance to the works of e.g. Jörg Breu and other German painters of Monatsbilder (depictions of the months), but it is far from close enough to be by him.

Considering the scarcity of these paintings, and the quality and detail in it, I would estimate this at 8,000 Euro, despite the lack of a name or pure artistic quality.

UPDATE:  the listing has now been completed. The st January date remains, but an artist and estimate are added.Wolfgang Heimbach (1605-1678), washing at Christiania (Copenhague), estimated at ... 60,000 to 80,000 Euro! So a hundred years later and ten times as expensive as my expectations :-)

UPDATE 2: sold for 62,000 Euro, good estimate by the auctioneer.