Ignatius before his church

At Tajan, 25 March 2015, they sell a portrait of Ignatius of Loyola (?) before the Virgin, attributed to the 17th century Antwerp School, estimated at 4,000 to 6,000 Euro. I don't expect the image to exceed that estimate, if it even makes so much, as it isn't the most attractive (it almost looks like three or four works put together, with the tower to the right not integrated in either the landscape or the foreground, the Virgin painted in a style vaguely reminiscent of Early Netherlandish painting, Ignatius painted more modern but less accomplished, the background wall boring and unrealistic, but some nice flowers on the floor...

Then why this blog post? Well, the rather detailed depiction of the tower on the right drew my attention. It is the tower of the Carolus Borromeus church in the center of Antwerp, a church well known to all Rubens lovers as he painted the ceilings and probably designed elements of the church as well. Sadly, the ceiling paintings were lost after a fire, and most of the other artwork in the church was painted at the time of the French Revolution.

What I didn't get was why Ignatius of Loyola was depicted together with the Borromeus church tower, but it turns out that it originally wasn't a Carolus Borromeus church, but a church dedicated to Ignatius (also the patron saint of the nearby university).

So this painting was originally either inside the church, or for someone closely associated with it (the parish priest or something similar).

I contacted the people currently curating the artwork of the Church and its museum, as it would be great if they could again acquire this. No idea if they are interested and/or have the means to do this though.

UPDATE: not sold, again for sale at Tajan on 15 October 2015 with a revised estimate of 3,000 to 5,000 Euro.

UPDATE 2: this time sold for 7,150 Euro, which is even more than the original estimate! Someone missed out on a bargain 6 months ago. I wonder if the buyer has read my blog :-)

Dutch treat: a sleeper gift for the 100th post!

As this is my 100th blog post, I thought I'ld make my regular readers happy with my (in my opinion) most important sleeper discovery so far.

At Giafferi, in Paris, they sell on 3 April 2015 a "Dutch School, 17th century" "Portrait of a young woman with a pair of gloves", measuring 114 by 79 cm and estimated at 6,000 to 8,000 Euro.

I'm pretty certain (though obviously this is opinion, not a guaranteed expert report) that it is in fact a typical portrait by Ferdinand Bol (1616-1680), one of the most talented and sought-after pupils of Rembrandt.

The sitter is not the most charming, which at first may give the impression that the painting isn't that good. But in fact it looks to be perfect in even the smallest details, with the hands painted brilliantly, the textures of the clothes, jewellery, chair all life-like, and the face as individual as one could wish for. Whether it is by Bol or not, it is the best "Dutch School" portrait I have seen for that kind of money in recent months, and should fetch at least 25,000 Euro (I wouldn't be surprised, if it is as good as it looks to be, to see it in a big auction soon with an estimate of some 50,000 Euro). These kind of paintings rarely turn up, and to get it at 6,000 Euro would be a real bargain.

UPDATE: in what is a major reality check for this blog, the painting was not sold. Apparently I was the only one convinced that this was a good work by a known artist, and not some work by a follower of these... I'll try to find a better sleeper for my 200th post, and keep an eye out to see if this one resurfaces elsewhere or with a different valuation.

You can compare this painting with the "A lady with a fan" in the National Gallery. Note that the portrait for sale, apart from the two gloves, also has a fan in her hand. Both sitters have nearly the same necklace-pendant, and the same hairdo. This sitter also isn't the most striking beauty, but has character and individuality.

Another comparable portrait is the "Portrait of a woman" in the Met. Same hairdo, same kind of broche, same type of sitter.

Now, Bol wasn't the only one to paint this type of portrait, one can find similar works by Herkules Sanders, Frans Hals even, and a number of good Dutch School examples. But to me, this looks too much like Ferdinand Bol to not attribute it to him, as far as that can be determined from an online picture. If someone here sees it in the flesh, so to speak, and would like to give their comments on it, I'ld be grateful!

Second thoughts

Between writing this post and publishing it, I tried to look into this a little more, and I'm not so sure any more. I'm very sure that this is a very good painting, by a highly accomplished Dutch portraitist. But without seeing the painting myself, I don't think I can confidently place it with Ferdinand Bol and not with e.g. Johannes Verspronck, who made quite a few similar paintings (especially the bottom one is really good and comparable). Versproncks paintings seem a bit more "Flemish", full-blooded, than the quite restrained Bol paintings, which fits more closely with the one for sale.

And then there is someone like Bartholomeus Van der Helst, whose work is often quite different from the portrait for sale (and often simply worse), but who was quite capable of producing something like this. The second example above sold for 350,000 Euro at Christie's in 2010, so it's not as if the painting is automatically worthless (well, less than 10,000 Euro or so) if it isn't by Bol and doesn't feature a handsome young woman (a good Verspronck doesn't come cheap either).

Whoever buys this work will probably need to do some good research, comparing not just the subject type but actual painting styles, before a definitive attribution can be reached (if ever). I just would love to know the eventual conclusion!

On the other hand, this painting may be attributed to Ferdinand Bol by the auction house Clars and is only half as expensive, but it is miles further away from a real Bol than the one I present here. It looks more French than Dutch to me.

Teniers the Much Younger

One has to wonder, when one encounters copies after recently found originals, or things recently for sale, and the like, whether the ones for sale now are also old copies or new forgeries trying to imitate old copies? Making a poor "after Teniers" copy is obviously much easier than making a fake Teniers, and no one will bother doing any serious tests (like dendrochronology) to test whether it is really an old painting or not...

As an example, of which I don't know whether it is old or not, but where I have my doubts: Fairfield Auctions LLC sells a "Flemish School, 18th century" tavern scene, estimated at $500 to $750. Ticks all the right boxes for a Teniers copy, but for the fact that it has bright colours instead of some murky brown, but that's surely a plus?

The back of the painting is a mess, but surely something that has survived 300 years or so should look like that? Even though it looks like the match between the frame and the painting has only been made very recently, that doesn't mean that the painting can't be old?

On ArtValue, I found a "similar" painting "after Teniers" that sold for 1,500 Euro at Artcurial in 2012. And now we have for sale an image that is completely identical in every detail, but for the second smoker on the left, and the one entering on the right. There is one slight problem with the person entering the pub on the right; he is entering through the fireplace ;-) If you are not sure about this, then check this other Teniers copy, sold at Christie's, which shows the exact same fireplace but now completely.

So, is the one for sale a recent fake? I have no evidence, and I haven't actually handled the painting, but I would be very, very wary of buying such a thing.

Original by Hendrik Govaerts or Balthasar Van den Bossche

Sometimes even the weakest painting can lead to interesting quests. The above, a visit to the atelier of a painter, is a very poor work but clearly derived from a better one. This one is for sale at Ginhart and is rather overpriced at 1,500 Euro.

It is situated in the circle of Balthasar Van den Bossche. The above painting has been attributed to Van den Bossche, so this link seems obvious: even though different in many details, it is clear that the one for sale here has taken the central part (the painter, the painting, the two watchers) directly from this painting. Unless...

this painting, attributed to Hendrik Govaerts (which looks to be the exact same painting, but either cleaned or with different lighting), is the real origin!

Missing Rubens

A lot of unrecognised copies after old masters this week, mostly to poor to mention here (or do you want a poor 19th century copy of a Velazquez?). More fun is it when a copy of a Rubens painting turns up at Drouot (lot 52, 27 March 2015), described as  Flemish School, 17th century, "Diana", and estimated at 2,000 to 3,000 Euro, which turns out to be a copy after a lost or location unknown Rubens original. Could it be the long lost original? Well, obviously not, unless you believe that the whole painting has been overpainted so much that every trace of Rubens has been erased.

A much better copy was sold at Sotheby's for £10,000 in 2008. The one now for sale seems relatively expensive considering the quality, but if you are trying to collect every Rubens painting, this may be one of the harder to find ones!

There are a few important differences between the Sotheby's copy and the one for sale here, no idea what the reason is (creative freedom of the copiers? Multiple lost originals?). The result is that in the one for sale, the dog in the front is just barking at nothing, while in the Sotheby's one he is barking to some dead wildlife. Seems more logical...

Early Netherlandish Madonna

At Fairfield Auctions in Connecticut, they sell on 22 March 2015 a Madonna, probably 16th century, from the "Continental School". Estimated at $800 to $1,200. No idea if it is worth a lot more, but it certainly should fetch $1,000 easily.

It looks to me like a Flemish panel of ca. 1500-1550, assuming it isn't a later pastiche. I can't find other examples of the same type. The face type fits in the tradition of Bouts of Van der Goes, even somewhat reminding me of Geertgen of Sint Jans, but is not of the same quality as any known artist. But it has a lot of charm and intrigues with its original image. The crown is somewhat too large though...

This is a painting of the Saint Queen Isabel, by a follower of Quentin Massys. It dates from the same period as the painting for sale. The eyes are even more closed on this one.

Dirk Bouts and his followers painted a number of similar full frontal religious portraits in the same vein.

Possibly the same subject, but presented quite differently (and obviously much better) is the Regina Caeli by Van Eyck. Whether the painting for sale also depicts a Crowned Mary, or some Queen or other Saint, is not immediately obvious here. The lack of any halo may point in a more secular direction, but this isn't conclusive (and the painting has suffered over the ages, so it may well be that it looked different originally).

A reader sent me a link to another similar (though much better) painting, from the Liechtenstein Collections.

Henriette Marie of the Palatinate

At Tennants, there is a nice "Portrait of a lady" by a "Follower of Gerrit van Honthorst", estimated at £2,500 to £4,000. UPDATE: sold for £2,600. If you don't like to buy a portrait of an unknown sitter, I may be able to help you.

As can be seen from these portraits (one courtesy of Artvalue.com), both attributed to Studio or School of Honthorst,  she probably is Henrietta Maria of the Palatinate, grand daughter of James VI of Scotland / James I of England.  Certainly the second portrait is very similar. If it could be confirmed that it is Henrietta Maria, it should be worth more than £4,000. Obviously, if it could be attributed to Honthorst, it would be worth a lot more!