What I called a "Cheap "Follower of Cranach"" is probably a Christian Goller fake

UPDATE; painting again for sale at Jackson's on 17 November 2015, weird (still a fake though).

On 9 June 2015, I posted an auction of what I considered a cheap "Follower of Cranach" painting. Some further research seems to indicate that I have been duped (as was the auction house now, and many auction houses and dealers in the past).

 

The painting for sale (left picture) is exactly the same as one shown in an article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung of 20 November 2014 about Christian Goller, notorious German Cranach forger (right picture). The added third apple to the right of the head of the Virgin, the shape of the rocks on the left, every detail seems to be the same. The one in the article was sold for 900 Euro, so below the estimate of the one for sale at Jackson's in Iowa. The Jackson's one eventually sold for $3,500, which would mean a nice profit for the seller if it is the same painting (and possibly a rather dubious practice to buy it as a known fake but sell it as a Follower of...)

And it clearly is the same painting. Apart from the obvious visual similarity, there are more damning aspects. In the catalog for the sale in November 2014 (lot 21), the dimensions were given as 54,5 by 77 cm; in the Jackson's sale, it was 78 by 54 cm.

 And below you can see the back of the paintings, from the two catalogs. So, obviously the same painting.

May and June summary

May and June showed a steady rise in visitors compared to April: from 408 pageviews in April over 515 in May to 709 in June, breaking the previous record of March. The 2000th pageview happened on June 2nd. I also passed the 200 and 250 posts milestone.

Visitors have come now from 35 different countries, including 13 new ones: Argentina, Belarus, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, India, Japan, Maroc, Russia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates

I placed 5 bids on auctions, winning two items, both somewhat disappointing; a follower of Ruisdael and a manner of Cranach, which I first hoped to be closer to the real thing. A nice painting, but not as old as I hoped. I'll sell them in the autumn, and let you know more about them at that time, if appropriate.

My second most popular post (by pageview, which doesn't catch everything) is with 20 views a post about a copy after Rubens: not really my most remarkable post, so probably some coincidence. But my June posting about a possible Simon Marmion Burgundian portrait reached a nice 34 views, partly because my tweet about it was favoured and retweeted by the auction house.

Which reminds me: I started to Tweet, you can find me at https://twitter.com/auctionaugur!

The blog will be mostly quiet in July, with my holidays on the one handand a lack of interesting auctions on the other. I guess it will pick up again in August, with the announcements of the first September auctions. Enjoy the summer (or if you are in the Southern hemisphere, enjoy winter)!

Wilhelm van Ehrenberg

Balclis, from Spain, sells on 8 July 2015 a "Flemish School, 17th century, circle of Peeter Neefs II and Frans Francken II" painting of the Liberation of Saint Peter, a very large oil on copper (81 by 116, which is extremely large for a copper painting of that age) estimated at 6,000 Euro.

While Neefs and Francken have painted similar works, the painting is by far the most closely related to the work of Wilhelm Schubert van Ehrenberg (an Antwerp painter of German origin, ca. 1630-ca.1700). A painting like the above "Dungeon interior" (from a private collection) is quite similar in style and composition. The figures on that one are by Hieronymus Janssens, and it is quite possible that the figures on the one for sale are also by another painter.

As so often, the best evidence comes from the RKD, with the above painting (sold at Christie's in 1995). While not a copy of the one for sale, it is so close as to make an attribution to the same artist quite likely. It should fetch about 10,000 Euro.

17th century Columbus portrait is neither

Lewis & Maese, from Texas, sell on 1 July 2015 a "17th century oil on canvas of Christopher Columbus", estimated at just $500 to $800.

Which would be a bargain for an old and quite well preserved portrait of such an iconic figure. Problem is that the portrait doesn't look 17th century at all, but is more likely 19th century; and worse that there is no reason at all to believe this is Columbus. The inscription is "1552" (or at least a date in the 1550s) when it is known that Columbus died in 1506; and it states "Aeta. 72" or aged 72, when he died aged 54 or 55 years old... The painting also bears a heraldic shield, which is totally unlike the Columbus shield. The portrait does have a vague resemblance to some known Columbus portraits, that's as far as it goes. But it is totally unclear why the subject is described as Columbus, perhaps some inscription on the back, or some family legend from the previous owner?

Henry Mirande (plus a 20th century "17th century Dutch" work)

Swan, Uk auctioneer, sells on 2 July 2015 an "Oil on canvas". Which isn't much of a description, obviously. No estimate either...

Luckily they provide decent images, which allow to find the artist: Henry (or Henri) Mirande (1877-1955), French modernist (expressionist) painter and illustrator, relatively famous around the time of his death but since largely forgotten, also because not many of his works seem to come on the market. The bulk of his work was in illustration for the many French magazines of the first half of the 20th century, including the more naughty ones, with many appearances in "Le Rire" and "Le Pêle-Mêle". His style in these illustrations is quite different from his usually rather sombre paintings. I'll not put further illustrations here, as the copyright status on his work isn't clear to me (the benefit of sticking to long dead artists!), but you can appreciate some of his wonderful illustrations here.

His paintings fetched $1,000 to $2,000 in the 1980s, and since then I could only find traces of one sold painting, which fetched some 2,000 Euro in 2007. I guess the one for sale here (of unknown size) should be worth at least the same.

At the same auction you can buy a "17th century Dutch oil on panel", estimated £200 to £300.

The image makes it clear that this isn't a 17th century work though, and the second image of the "indistinctly signed" signature shows it to be the work of Adrianos Marijnissen (1899-?), whose paintings of Winter in the Netherlands fetch usually around £1,000. A bit too much in my view, but if you like retro-sentimentalism then it may be a good buy. If you want a genuine 17th century painting though, better steer clear.

Unrecognized portrait by Thomas Murray

Versailles Enchères, an obviously French auction house, sold on 21 June an "English School, 18th century" full-length portrait of a man, estimated at 6,000 to 8,000 Euro despite some damage. The rather steep estimate for an anonymous portrait meant that it ended the auction unsold.

The description listed an inscription on the painting, "Sir Robt Salus Byi Cotton Bart". With some effort, this led to the identification of the sitter, "Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton", with the "Bart" meaning "baronet" of course. To be more precise, the third of the same name, living between 1695 and 1748. The National Portrait Gallery has an image of him, but doesn't show it on the website. Luckily the Fitzwilliam has the same engraving.

This mezzotint was made by George White after a painting by Thomas Murray (1663-1734). As the engraving exactly matches the painting for sale, we can safely conclude that this anonymous English portrait is by Thomas Murray (or a direct copy of his work, which seems less likely considering the high quality). In that case, it should have been worth at least the lower estimate, and probably up to 15,000 Euro.

I had dropped a note about this painting with a colleague who is more specialized in these things, but apparently he didn't buy it. Hence my posting after the fact here! With some luck, it will reappear at auction with a lower estimate

Potential sleeper

Versailles, French auction house, sold on 21 July 2015 a "17th century Italian school" drawing, estimated at 150 to 200 Euro.

It sold for a rather surprising 10,208 Euro instead, suggesting that some people recognised the hand of a known artist in this. The inscriptions read (approximately) "Renone fiume" and "Bachilione fiume". The Bacchiglione is a river in Northern Italy (Vicenze, Padua). In Vicenza, there is also a Retrone river, which ends in the Bacchiglione.

I haven't got a clue who might be the artist behind this, the drawing in itself doesn't warrant the price.

A reader pointed me to some similar drawings by Giorgio Vasari, but those ones were better than the one sold now. But it certainly is the closest I've come yet to identifying this one!