Abraham van Diepenbeeck, Gerard Seghers, or someone else?

Brussels Art Auctions, from Belgium, sells on 5 February 2019 an "attributed to Abraham van Diepenbeeck" drawing (well, a brunaille, a monochrome brown painting) of the Adoration of the Shepherds, estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 Euro.

It's a very nice oil sketch, by an accomplished artist, but I don't immediately see the link to Van Diepenbeeck (1596-1675). To me, the work seems more closely related to the work of Gerard Seghers (1591-1651).

Many aspects of this work go back to works by Rubens and especially Jacob Jordaens, including the maid with the jug on her head, or the discarded jug in the front, and the cow or ox looking at the spectators from the side. Other aspects, like the shepherd on the right carrying the sheep, can be found at David Teniers (Collection Custodia, copy by Teniers after Schiavone); this work has the ox looking at you as well, and a quite similar position of the Virgin and the kneeling shepherd on the left, so it may have been the direct inspiration for the composition for sale.

Like I said, I haven't found a similar Van Diepenbeeck, but the RKD lists the above Adoration by Gerard Seghers, from the Saint Vincent church in Soignies (Belgium). It has many similar elements (girl with the jug, position of the shepherds, head of the kneeling shepherd, ox on the left, ...) Enough to attribute it to Seghers? No, there have been too many painters creating similar works in this period.

But while Van Diepenbeeck has created at least one Adoration of the Shepherds as well, it doesn't look very similar to me. (Engraving by Cornelis Galle II, image from the Rijksmuseum).

In a strange coincidence (or a case of selection or perception bias?), a painting based on the same composition is now for sale at Scheublein, Germany, on 1 February 2019. It is described as "Unknown, 17th / 18th century", and is actually smaller than the brunaille (30 by 35 cm vs. 44 by 56 cm). It is estimated at only 150 Euro, and sold without limit. It is a strange hybrid, with the shepherd on the right copied nearly exactly, and the virgin reversed left-right, apart from her head which maintains the original direction. Weird! It seems that there should be other versions (or an engraving) out there where this is based on, and which may tell us more about the original artist.

Having said all that, what about the estimate? It's quite steep, certainly without any certainty about the original artist. It seems unlikely that it is by any of the truly greats like Rubens, although perhaps Jordaens is a possibility. For a more minor artist (compared to Rubens or Van Dyck), 10,000 Euro is a lot, but it is a large, finished, and good work, and a finished painting of this quality would easily fetch a lot more, so I guess that the price is reasonable, though hardly a bargain.

1500 Euro "Probably Flemish" painting is version of major work by Hendrik van Balen

Scheublein, from Germany, sells on 16 March 2018 a "Probably Flemish, 17th century" Moses struck water from the rock", a large canvas (108 by 140 cm) estimated at 1,500 Euro. The auction house also mentions that on the back it is described a "in the style of Frans Francken".

The work is actually a large copy of a work by Hendrick van Balen from the Shipley Gallery in Gateshead (found through the invaluable ArtUK).

NICE (the National Inventory of Continental Paintings) has some further information on the work, including old attributions to Frans Francken (hah!) and Paul Bril, and the existence of another copy (on copper, so not this one) in Vienna.

The Shipley version is in better condition, but it is hard to tell whether the issues with the work for sale are all caused by conservation issues or also by simply being a less well executed copy. The version for sale works a bit better as a composition in my opinion, the Shipley version has e.g. a very straight line just left of the middle between foreground and background, where the Scheublein version has a more natural, organic feel to it.

Another version of the work (dated 1607) was for sale at Christie's in December 2017, with an estimate of £30,000 to £50,000, but it apparently didn't sell. Christie's doesn't show its recent unsold items though apparently (booh!). Judging from the small picture I could find, it looks as if the background in that version is closer to the one for sale than to the one at Shipley. It presumably was a superior version to the one for sale, but without better images I really can't be sure.

More impressive is another version that was sold at Aguttes, in France, in 2012. Estimated at a hefty 70,000 to 90,000 Euro, this small version on copper (30 by 65 cm) sold for 969,000 Euro (full price). This version definitely looks to be better painted than the one for sale though, and certainly much better conserved...

It seems to me that the work for sale is in any case worth considerably more than the estimate, and should fetch 5,000 Euro as a good, large copy after Van Balen. If it turns out to be a real Van Balen which just needs some TLC, then the value could be a lot higher still. But at 1,500 Euro it is a steal.

UPDATE: sold for 5,500 Euro, the price I gave if it was a good copy and not an original.

Rest on the Flight to Egypt

Scheublein, from Germany, sells on 2 December 216 a "Probably Dutch, 17th century" Holy Family, a small work (26 by 20) estimated at 1,200 Euro.

It is a Flemish work, showing a typical scene from the "Rest on the flight to Egypt", a playful family moment depicted by some of the greatest masters of the period. This work reminds me most of Jordaens, and more generally of the ca. 1630 Antwerp school (two examples by Van Dyck pictured).

The child especially is very close to examples by Van Dyck and Rubens.

While it isn't good enough to be attributed to Jordaens or one of the other well-known names, it still is a lot better than the estimate indicates, and should be worth 4,000 to 5,000 Euro.

UPDATE: sold for 950 Euro, way below my expectations

UPDATE 2 (June 2017): a bit late, but I have just found at the RKD the original for this work, and it is Dutch after all! It is a work by Godfried Schalcken,  from the Bayern State Museum in Munich, dated circa 1685-1690.