"Unknown Italian painter, 17th century" is copy after Simon Vouet

Arnold, from Germany, sells on 19 November a "Unknown, Italy, 17th century" Lot and his daughters, a rather large (114 by 158 cm) canvas estimated at 600 Euro.

At first it looks interesting, but the composition is clearly better than the execution, often a sign of a copy; in this case it is based on a work by Simon Vouet from 1633, now kept in the Museum of Strasbourg. The original is much brighter than this copy, which indeed gives the copy a more Italian look. The estimated value is about right, but don't expect to find some better work beneath the dark interior.

After Simon Vouet

At Brussels Art Auctions, 31 March 2015, they sell a drawing as "Anonymous, 17th or 18th century", "The Circumcision" estimated at 300 to 500. With drawings of this kind, there is always the chance that it is a design by some famous artist for a painting, and the composition and so on was quite accomplished, so worth looking further.

In this case, it is a reversed drawing of Simon Vouet's "The Presentation in the Temple". It most likely isn't a drawing by Vouet though, but a drawing after him, and probably after an etching, considering the reversion of the work (or a preparation for a "correct", non-reversed engraving of course). Probably worth no more or less than the estimate (too bad about the crease or line through the middle of the drawing though). UPDATE: sold for 380 Euro, as expected.