"Circle of Abraham Janssens" is copy after Willem van Herp the Elder

Oise enchères, from France, sells on 3 November 2018 a "Circle of Abraham Janssens" Visitation, a large work (112 by 162) estimated at 6,500 to 7,000 Euro.

It's an impressive, almost Rubensian work, but highly deficient when one looks at details, like faces. Either some extremely poor restoration has ruined the work (but this might be reversable), or (more likely) this is a copy after a very good work, done by a patient but mediocre amateur. When copying a cloud or a dress, getting the positions slightly wrong isn't that important. When painting a face, the minutest details matter. The best thing about such copies is the renewed respect one gets for actual good painters, people who not only can invent these compositions, but paint them convincingly.

The same composition is known in multiple much better versions, originally by Willem van Herp, and also by Joseph Marie Vien. This makes the work more recent, as Janssens lived from 1575 to 1632, and Van Herp from 1613 to 1677 (and Vien from 1716 to 1809!).

The best-known version by Van Herp is kept in the Museum of Poitiers. The work, although on a smaller canvas, has a larger composition, adding some extra features left and right.

Even better is a version in a private collection, which probably is the actual original by Van Herp. This version was for sale in 2005 at Sotheby's, with a surprisingly low estimate of 15,000 to 20,000 Euro. I could see this go for 100,000 Euro if it came on the market now, as it is a very good painting from one of the best followers of Rubens.

Another good but dirty copy, with some additional foliage on the right side and at the top, sold at Sotheby's for £15,000. 

The version for sale though is a lot worse, and I doubt that anyone who has really looked at the painting and noticed these faces will be willing to spend 6,000 Euro on it.

4 "Flemish school" paintings: work by Willem van Herp? Or after Marten de Vos?

Lamas Bolaño, from Spain, sells on 22 March 2018 two sets of two paintings from the "Flemish School, 17th century", estimated at 5,500 to 7,000 Euro per pair.

The works are related to paintings by Willem van Herp (1613-1677), but the condition doesn't really allow me to discern whether they are by or after him. Lot 1162 shows the "works of men", while lot 1169 displays Biblical scenes. The works have Latin texts at the bottom, but they are too small to decipher for me.

The second painting for sale shows people working on the land. This is a fragment of a painting by Willem Van Herp from a series on stories from Genesis, which was sold at Sotheby's in 2006, as can be seen at the RKD.

The final one is the easiest to recognise, as it shows the building of the Ark of Noach. This as well is part of a painting by Van Herp from the same series, again showing the bottom right corner of the larger work (thanks to the RKD again!).

But in this case the differences are more pronounced, and I was able to find another, better work much closer to the painting for sale. I haven't been able to find the location or origin of this version, which is given as "Flemish". It is very close to the work for sale, with the identical castle in the upper right and so on, but in much better condition and probably better painted as well.
 

Perhaps it is the original work at the basis of this engraving by Sadeler. It is based on a design by Marten de Vos, but one would expect the engraving to be in the reverse direction of the painting (this isn't always the case, but in the vast majority of cases this reversion is the result).

So it may well be that Van Herp isn't the artist behind these paintings (directly or as inspiration), but that Van Herp and our anonymous artist both used the same engravings as their starting point.

And sure enough, we also find engravings for other works in the series, like the Methusalem, and Cain in the smithy (which means we have now not only found the origin for these works, but also identified the stories behind them, yay!)

The estimate seems rather steep for copies after engravings, but they form a nice set in any case: 4,000 to 5,000 for the 4 together seems more realistic though.

Willem van Herp, Pauwels Casteels, or anonymous?

Vanderkindere, from Belgium, sells on 27 March 2018 an "attributed to Willem van Herp" Triumph of Neptune and Amphitrite, estimated at 20,000 to 30,000 Euro.

I have found at least two other copies of the same work, but with different attributions. Stuker, from Switzerland, sold in 2014 (in the sale of a quite impressive private collection) an "anonymous 17th century Flemish" version of the work, estimated at 8,000 to 12,000 Swiss Francs. It eventually sold for 22,000 Swiss Francs. This version has since been attributed to Pauwels Casteels (active 1649-1677) at the RKD. Dimensions and material (oil on copper) are identical, the main difference are the additional putti flying in the centre of the image.

Gros & Delettrez, from France, sold another (much dirtier) version, again with the same dimensions and material, for 17,000 Euro in 2006. It was attributed to Pauwels Casteels. This may have been the same work as the Stuker version (I can't find any differences actually, which is otherwise exceptional), in which case it has had a remarkable cleaning, drop in price and loss of attribution.

The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston has another copy of the work, where the artist is not named but described as "Flemish". This one again has some minor differences compared to the other examples, like the additional boy or putto in the water at the bottom centre.

The work for sale doesn't seem to be by Van Herp, who was more of a proto-classicist (and a good copier of work by e.g. Rubens), and is more in the style of someone closer to the Franckens. Pauwel Casteels may be the right name for this. The estimate for this work seems reasonable, perhaps a bit high; it is attractive, but shows some lack of brilliance when seen up close.

UPDATE: sold for 22,000 Euro, so the estimate was spot on.