Death and the poor: copy after engraving

Hargesheimer, from Germany, sells on 22 September 2018 a  "Dutch Master, 17th century" Death visits the poor, estimated at 600 Euro.

It is a copy after an engraving by Johannes Sadeler after a drawing by Johannes Stradanus, from ca. 1600 (info from the Rijksmuseum). Even the Latin text beneath the work is identical. As is so often the case, the existence of the engraving explains why we have a good composition but a rather poor execution. But it's a rare depiction anyway, and paintings with texts are always popular, so it shouldn't have any problem fetching the estimate.

Good quality copy after Stradanus, with variations

Vanderkindere, from Belgium, sells on 13 September 2016 a "Flemish School, 17th century" Christ chasing the money lenders from the Temple, estimated at 1,000 to 1,500 Euro.

It is a copy after Jan van der Straet (or Stradanus), a 1572 painting from the Holy Spirt Church in Florence. The original is 370cm by 260cm according to the RKD, though other sources give 292 by 217cm , this copy is a much smaller but still respectable 107cm by 76cm. The completely different colours seem to suggest that it is based on an engraving after the work. This is probably the 1575 engraving by Philips Galle mentioned at the RKD but which I haven't found online.

The painting also has some differences compared to the original, so perhaps there is more to this than just a copied engraving. It looks to be painter a lot better in the bottom half than at the top (everything from the head of Christ and upwards is less refined).

The above is the man on the left, from the work for sale and from the original. While the basic position is the same, very little has been retained otherwise, and the copy is surprisingly well painted (the original is better than this picture may suggest, I have zoomed in from the best but still small picture I could find for it).

Other sections show similar variations. The composition has been rearranged here, bringing the hand of Christ next to the head of the suprised man instead of high above it. The heads are in a much more typical "Flemish", caricatural style, compared to the original "Italian" style, but they are very well painted.

Perhaps this is work is not so much based on an angraving a on a detailed drawing made by a 17th century Flemish painter during his Grand Tour, and then reworked into a painting back home in Flanders. The changes above are evidence of a well-talented artist, not some mere copiist like we see usually.

As mentioned above, the upper part of the work is of lesser quality, e.g. the head of Christ (the focal point of the work) is clearly inferior to the heads I highlighted already. Either the artist was better in capturing the more caricatural money lenders than the at once solemn, divine and angered Christ: or this part has been "restored" over the centuries and at best something much better is hidden beneath the current top layer.

As an anonymous work, I would rate it at 3,000 to 5,000 Euro. If anyone coiuld put a name to the artist, this might increase even further.

UPDATE: a reader kindly sent me a link to the Galle engraving. It turns out to be some intermediate version between the Stradanus painting and the work for sale here (e.g. the man with the turban on the right, or the girl in the upper right, can be seen in the engraving and the work for sale, but not in the original; but the man with his legs pulled up, on the lower right, is in the engraving and the original, but not in the work for sale). Perhaps Stradanus had painted more than one version of the work? This engraving doesn't really answer all questions about this work, but it makes it to me even more intriguing and worthwhile. Getting this for anything like the estimate would be a good bargain.

UPDATE:sold for 3,600 Euro,  tripled the original estimate and perfectly inside my estimate, nice!

Followup on a post of 2 March: original artist found!

In a post some weeks ago, I discussed a painting where reproductions were for sale already but I couldn't find anything about the original. A reader has now sent me a link to an engraving by Sadeler after Stradanus, showing the same image.

I doubt that the painting now for sale is actually the original Stradanus painting, the quality isn't good enough and it isn't reversed compared to the engraving, but it is nice to find some more info on this, and the probable name of the painter of the original work. The copy is for sale about right now, at Hargesheimer. The confusion whether the work was Italian or Flemish is also understandable with an artist like Stradanus.

UPDATE: it sold for a whopping 9,500 Euro, against an estimate of only 1,200 Euro. Considering that it is most likely a copy after an engraving, and not an original, this seems a very steep price.