"Janssen" is probably Luplau Janssen, Danish artist

Walldorf, Germany, sells on 22 April 2017 as lot 761 a "Janssen, 19th/20th century" Grieving young woman, a small work (24 by 18 cm) estimated at 550 Euro.

There are many painters named Janssen, but the only one who seems to have had similar subjects, enough artistic merit, and a similar signature, seems to have been Luplau Janssen (1869-1927).

The second signature comes from his portrait of Peter Faber. Most signed works have his full name, and often a date, but considering the small scale of the work for sale, it is not really surprising that he signed with just his surname.

He seems to be situated somewhere in the transition between traditional 19th century genre painting, and more modern, somewhat expressionistic 20th century painting. His subjects (portraits (Kierkegaard shown), sentimental works, some landscapes) are often traditional, but the way he depicts the people is often fairly modern in detail (like his handling of skin and hair).

The estimate for the work for sale seems about right, it is attractive but rather small. His most expensive work I could find fetched nearly 10,000 Euro, but most works are sold for 1,000 Euro or less.

Unknown artist C. De Vylder

Walldorf, from Germany, sells on 22 April 2017 as lot 1091 an "Unclearly signed, 19th century Belgian school, Antwerp 1860" genre painting estimated at 500 Euro.

The painting isn't especially good, but signed Belgian paintings always make me curious to find out who actually painted it. Luckily, the auction house provided a close-up of the signature. It seems to say C. De Kylder or C. De Vylder or any variation thereof.

It turns out that this is a largely unknown painter, who appears from time to time at auction with similar works, often dated to the same year, 1860. One auction stated that he or she was Dutch and lived from 1840 to 1880, but I haven't been able to confirm this. The RKD doesn't list them.

A possibility is that this was a student at the important Antwerp Royal Academy of Art, who painted a lot during his studies (ca. 1860) but then quit painting and went on to live an unremarkable live somewhere. Seems like a pity in that case, as they had some talent, enough probably to become a moderately succesful painter of commercial works like the above. They wouldn't have become a major master of the genre though.

Above are shown the other works by him that I could find. And that's it. No trace of his origin, first name, ... could be found online.

Value? The estimate seems about right. The first and fourth painting above were sold together at Christie's South Kensington in 2000 for £3,500, but they seem to be somewhat better than the one for sale, and were twice as large. The work for sale is quite small (32 by 25 cm).