"Flemish, 2nd half 18th c." is work by Dirck Helmbreker from ca. 1660

Hotel de Ventes de Saint-Dié, France, sells on 11 June 2017 a "Flemish School, 2nd half of the 18th century" wine-making drawing, estimated at 200 to 300 Euro.

The drawing has the same elements (though not all at the same place) as a painting attributed to Dirck Helmbreker (or Helmbreecker) (1652-1696), sold at Christie's in 2009. It had been offered at the same auciton twice in 2008 with estimates of £6,000 to £8,000 first, and £4,000 to £6,000 second, but remained unsold both times. The third attempt, with a £2,000 to £4,000 estimate, was successful, and ended on £2,250.

Normally, when a drawing shows some scenes of a finished  painting and no obvious trace of design (different positions tried out or other changes), it is a copy after the drawing. In this case, the drawing is better though than the painting, which is unusual. perhaps it is a design by Helmbreker, and the painting is one of multiple copies after it; or both are copies after a lost original, with the drawing made by a better artist than the painting. Or perhaps the painting has suffered a lot in the details like faces, which makes it look worse when seen close-up.

Without further information on this, and without knowing the work of Helmbreker really well, I would tentatively suggest that this is not a late 18th century drawing, but an actual drawing by Helmbreker. This would mean that the estimate is way too low: even an "attributed" drawing fetched quite good money, 1800 Euro, while the two drawings at auction which were definitely attributed to him fetched 5,000 Euro and 35,000 Euro... If you can get this one for less than 1,000 Euro, you probably have a bargain.

"Flemish School" is studio of Hans Jordaens III

Balclis, from Spain, sells on 31 May 2017 a "Flemish School, 17th century" Crossing of the Red Sea, estimated at 1,400 Euro.

It is a different composition than the one I discussed in March of this year in another post, but the artist is the same: Hans Jordaens III.

Another version was sold at Christie's in 2007, as described at the RKD. That version was painted a lot better though, the faces especially make it clear that the one for sale now is a studio work or a close follower.

A good, signed Jordaens III of the Red Sea crossing was sold for 22,000 Euro in Germany just a few days ago; but this work is worth a lot less, perhaps up to about 2,000 Euro.

"Attributed to Sion" is a work by Gérard de la Vallée

Carlo Bonte, from Belgium, sells on 14 June 2017 an "attributed to Sion" Saint Cecilia, estimated at 8,000 to 12,000 Euro.

The painting was sold in 2008 at Hampel as a Peeter Sion (1649-1695) as well, but is now, according to the RKD, attributed to Gérard de la Vallée (1596-1667). I don't know why the auction house reverted to the previous attribution.

A very good argument for the Vallée attribution is that another copy of the work, sold at Tajan in 1996, is signed, as reported by the RKD. The works are nearly identical (size as well), a major difference is the additional group of angels or putti at the top right, above the door. But otherwise, as far as can be determined from the small black-and-white photo of the other work, I see no reason to attribute the one for sale to another artist. It sold at Tajan for 38000 French Francs, or some 6,000 Euro. It was sold again at Piasa two years later for 29000 French Francs, which is less than 5,000 Euro (I have no illustrations to compare, but from reading the description and sizes, they seem to be the same work).

The story doesn't end here though: the circle of dancing putti is taken from a still older work by (or after?) Peter de Witte (1553-1628), now in the Frans Hals Museum. It is dated to about 1585-1595, so before the birth of Vallée, and depicts King David playing the harp.

Other versions of de Wit exist, one in a much better condition but the whereabouts are unknown to me. An earlier attribution of this work (or another very similar uncleaned copy) was to Hans Rottenhammer (1579-1625), who has made similar works with dancing putti or angels (the ones with wings are angels, putti don't have wings).

Another version was sold at Dorotheum in 2006 as "German School, 17th century" for 7,000 Euro. It looks like a copy after the others.

The central two angels also reappear nearly the same in a Frans Francken from the Lyon Museum, but perhaps we are straying into the coincidence territory here.

In 2008 it fetched 17,000 Euro (against a 20,000 Euro estimate), so the current estimate is considerably lower.

The 2008 estimate and price seem to have been rather high, the current estimate is in line with what both the other version, and other works by De la Vallée fetch. It is a very attractive work though, and a nice example of how elements of older works get reused in a way we would now call plagiarism (or intertextuality if we were pretentious and post-modern).

UPDATE: Conan, from France, sells another version, attributed correctly to the "School of" Pieter de Witte, on 6 October 2018. The estimate is a quite reasonable 2,000 to 3,000 Euro.

UPDATE 2: in 2014, another version, very close to the one from the Frans Hals Museum above, was sold as by Maerten de Vos...

UPDATE 3: the Carlo Bonte version is now for sale on 25 February 2019 at Horta, in Belgium, with an estimate of 7,500 to 10,000 Euro. They now give it as "Flemish School, 17th century", with an old attribution to Peeter Sion, but no mention of Gérard de la Vallée or any of the other artists mentioned above.
I'll perhaps dedicate a new post to the interesting paintings visible in this work.

UPDATE 4: sold for 5,000 Euro, which seems to be rather low.

"Dutch painter" is a painting from the workshop of Abraham van Cuylenborch

Wannenes, from Italy, sells on 31 May 2017 as lot 533 a "Dutch painter, 18th-19th century" Bathing nymphs estimated at 500 to 800 Euro.

Another, at first sight better painted version of the work, but with about the same dimensions, was for sale at Dorotheum in 2016 with an estimate of 6,000 to 7,000 Euro. There it was called a Bath of Diana. It wasn't sold.

The work for sale lacks the same quality, but I wonder whether this is due to some poor overpainting. Normally, a poorer copy wouldn't have such rather greyed out but otherwise good figures in the background, I think. The second and fourth picture show the same details in the Dorotheum version.

Anoother version was available from Sotheby's (2016, est. 10,000 Euro, unsold) Other, simlilar works by Cuylenborch usually fetch around 4,000 to 5,000 Euro.

Considering all this, the estimate for this one seems to be too low and a 1,500 Euro estimate may be more correct if you are willing to take the gamble that cleanup will indeed reveal more detail and quality.

Flemish School Eliezer: many variations with many different attributions

Rouillac, from France, sells on 11 June 2017 a "Flemish school, ca. 1560, circle of the Master of the Prodigal Son" Eliezer and Rebecca at the well, estimated at 2,000 to 3,000 Euro.

The composition is known from a fairly large number of copies, some anonymous, some tentatively attributed to a named master, but all of them apparently to a different master.

The RKD lists one from the circle of Maerten de Vos (sold at Dorotheum in 2007), an anonymous 1st half 16th century (sold at Sotheby's in 2004), a slightly later anonymous (ca. 1565) also from Sotheby's 2004 (which is very close to the one for sale), a third anonymous 2nd half 16th, sold at Sotheby's in 2006 (close to the 1565 version), an anonymous ca. 1560 version from the National Gallery of Ireland (also close to the 1565 version), and a Follower of Frans Floris from the Museum of Troyes (again close to the work for sale).

Older, rejected attributions relating it to Lambert Lombard, or the Master of the Prodigal Son abound as well.

A drawing by Hans Bol also seems to be related, but is less closely related than the two groups we can identify in the above list of illustrations.

Outside of the RKD, I can find some other versions also attributed to Marten de Vos or his circle.

The work for sale is not good enough to be attributed to any known painter, and I don't see more affinity with the Master of the Prodigal Son than with Frans Floris or with Marten de Vos. It would be interesting to found the originals behind these compositions though. The estimate seems about right, I certainly can't see it going for more.

"Monogrammed DRS" is a fake David Ryckaert

Carlo Bonte, from Belgium, sells on 14 June 2017 a "17th century monogrammed D.R.S" tavern scene, estimated at 1,000 to 1,500 Euro.

I believe it is not "D.R.S." but "D.R.f." (with lowercase f) for David Ryckaert fecit ("made"). David Ryckaert III (1612 - 1661) is known for these kind of scenes in the vein of Brouwer and Teniers.

Having identified the supposed artist is good, but sadly I'm fairly certain that this one can't be an original Ryckaert or even a 17th century work.

The "stoof" shown on the right is something that as far as I know never appeared on 17th century paintings (and certainly not in a tavern), and only became available around 1800. The fake is probably at least 100 years later, as people from 1800 or thereabouts would still know that this kind of heating was "new", while 100 years later it was already old-fashioned enough to be confused with much older heating systems.

Copy of the Carracci pietà attributed to Teniers

Campo & Campo, from Belgium, sells on 23 May 2017 as lot 201 an "attributed to David Teniers II" copy of the Pietà by Annibale Carracci, estimated at 8,000 to 10,000 Euro.

It is a very good copy, at about the same dimensions as the original. The work was well-known to Teniers, as it was one of the highlights of the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, now one of the main origins of the beautiful collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

 

Teniers has painted the work a number of times in his depictions of part of the collection of the Archduke, and has also made a smaller drawn copy of it for his illustrated catalogie of the collection from 1660, the first illustrated art catalogue ever (and a book which is, al things considered, reasonably affordable nevertheless, at some £2,000 for a complete original copy with 246 engravings)

But has he also made lifesize copies of any works in the collection? I can't find a reference to other such copies by Teniers, but of course it is possible, and he was certainly both capable and in a position to make this copy.

There are some remarkable differences though (even though the work is clearly painted straight from the original and not from some engraving), most noticeable is the added tableware in the middle right. Also clear is that the copy is slightly wider, showing the Mary and Christ and not the slightly cut-off version of Carracci. It almost looks as if whoever painted this copy, wanted to make a "better" version, avoiding the emptiness of the shelf and the crampedness of the original. By slightly changing the position of Mary, Teniers (or the artist) brought the two protagonists closer together as well. So while he increased the emotionality in this regard, he lessened the same emotion by adding some breathing space at the sides and especially at the top, and by adding some more (very restrained) eye candy on the shelf.

While to our modern eyes it probably doesn't make this really better than the original, it makes it different and not really worse either, which is an achievement in itself (it is much easier to ruin such a composition when one starts fiddling with it). So whoever did this (and assuming there isn't an actual Carracci version with this exact composition) must have been a very accomplished artist as well.

Even as an old, good, anonymous copy of this work, evidence of the habit at the time of copying the best Italian works to use as exercise at the moment and inspiration afterwards, it should be worth the estimate.

If it can be proven that it really is the work of Teniers, it should probably be at least 20,000 Euro though, and probably more. It would be great to see it displayed in Vienna next to the original!