Another copy of Hugo Van der Goes' "descent from the cross"

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 11 September 2018 a "Flemish School, 16th or 17th century" Descent from the cross estimated at 4,000 to 6,000 Euro.

It is another (but much better) copy after the work by Hugo Van der Goes, which I already discussed in April 2018. The above version is from Cambrai, and I doubt it is the original (or else it has had a lot of poor restorations and overpaint). But it gives a good idea of how the original probably looked.

The work for sale has some very good parts, especially the two figures on the left. The Mary and John are clearly weaker (e.g. the hands of the virgin are very poorly executed). The painting looks to be from around 1550, certainly the Jesus looks to modern to be 15th century. But even so, it is one of the better and more interesting copies, and should be worth the estimate without much trouble.

18K€ "attributed to Otto van Veen" is copy after engraving by Aegidius Sadeler after Hans Speckaert

Monsantic, from Belgium, sells on 2 September 2018 an "attributed to Otto van Veen" Adoration of the Magi, estimated at 18,000 to 22,000 Euro.

Which would be a considerable amount for a fair Otto Van Veen, but is way too much for a work in rather poor condition. It seems to have lost most of its freshness, as if it has been kept unvarnished for too long. Even so, it looks as if it was made by a competent but not brilliant painter, and the auctioneer (or seller) may have been deceived by the good composition into attributing it to a better painter.

The work is based on en engraving by Aegidius Sadeler (copy from the Rijksmuseum), which copied a painting by Hans Speckaert (1540-1577).

Jaël and Sisera, a typical Speckaert painting (Boijmans - Van Beuningen)

I had never heard of him, but he is one of the Flemish painters who stayed mainly in Italy in the 16th century, and had through their works and the engravings made of them a considerable influence on art in the Netherlands, moving away from the late Gothic (Early Netherlandish) style towards more Italian-style Renaissance images, especially the so-caled Northern Mannerism style with highly exaggerated figures (something which in a different form had already been popular in the circle of Coecke van Aelst some decades earlier). Bartholomeus Spranger is probably the best known of these painters.

The RKD lists one other version of this painting, a very small oval one which they date to the late 16th century (without indication of its origin as an engraving).  Both these paintings are considerably worse in the details compared to the engraving, so they are not the original by Speckaert, in case anyone wondered.

Anyway, all this doesn't prove that it isn't by van Veen, but a copy after an engraving, by a decent painter but in a rather poor condition (and at 75cm wide not particularly large either), is not worth 18,000€ by a wide margin. Some 3,000 Euro perhaps, depending on whether people really like the style this has been painted in and believe that some care could bring the colours back to life a bit, which I doubt.

"Follower of Breughel" is a copy after Hans Bol

Auktionshaus Saarbrücken, from Germany, sells on 1 September 2018 an "Unknown artist, follower of Breughel, probably 17th century" depiction of the Parable of the Tares (the auction house thinks it is the Parable of the Sower, but that's a different story), estimated at 900 Euro.

It is a copy after an engraving by Hans Bol from 1574, as can be found in the collection of the Rijksmuseum. The church on the left, the castle on the right with the central round tower, the figure of the sowing devil, the sleeping man on the right, ... are all taken from the engraving. Only the horses have been removed, and the trees made a bit fuller (which would look bad in an engraving). I don't think the painting is good enough to be by Bol, even though he wasn't always the most accomplished painter either, but it still is an interesting old work and the estimate is about right.

Has someone really removed the signature from this painting in the last 12 months?

Cannes Enchères, from France, sells on 7 July 2018 as lot 300 a "20th century Belgian School, ca. 1912" portrait of Emile Verhaeren, estimated at 300 to 400 Euro.

The work has a landscape on the back, dated to 1912.

A portrait of Emile Verhaeren, Nobel Prize for Literature laureate and known friend of many of Belgium's most progressive artists of ca. 1900 (including Ensor and Van Rysselberghe) is always interesting, and a fair chance to find a painting by a great artist.

This one has a few problems though. For starters, how do we know that this is Verhaeren? Yes, he looks somewhat the same, but Verhaeren is always portrayed with a "pince-nez", glasses without the earpiece which get pinched on the nose, but the person in this portrait has regular glasses instead.

More worryingly is that the painting was for sale last year in Prague, at Antikvity Praha, for 500 Euro. It was then identified as Verhaeren as well, and as "possibly French". The work had a different frame, and most remarkably, it had a signature. On the back, it had also a monogram FB with the date 1912. Sadly, I can't decipher the signature, something like "Ferdinand" or "Friedmond" (?) "Beiker" or "Reiker" (the monogram may be FR, although FB is more likely). I haven't been able to find the painter this may refer to.

And now, both the monogram and more importantly the signature are erased, leaving only the date? Now, if the signature was apocryphal, then most likely the date was apocryphal as well, and getting rid of one but not the other is weird. And if the signature was not apocryphal but indicated a different origin or otherwise was problematic, then too bad, but don't remove it. In any case, this leaves a very bad taste to the mouth and is a good reason not to buy this painting, as it is now suspect in every way...

You can see that they have had to remove everything, going down to the bare canvas, to get rid of the signature, so it most likely was original, not a later overpaint. Which makes this a willful and shameful act of vandalism.

UPDATE: again for sale as "Verhaeren" at Cannes Enchères on 13 October 2018, now for 200 to 300 Euro. 

Flemish painting after Roman sculpture

SGL, from France, sells on 24 June 2018 a "Flemish School, ca. 1600" Hercules and the snakes, estimated at 3,000 to 5,000 Euro.

The same figure can be seen on a "Follower of Rubens" work sold at Christie's in 2015 for £11,800, but the two works are different enough to suppose that some engraving was the basis for it.

On the Rijksmuseum site I found this anonymous engraving, from a 1584 Italian book on ancient Roman sculptures.

And the RKD showed me the actual sculpture, currently in the Uffizi.

Whether the artist of the work for sale knew the engraving (or another one of the same work), or had seen the original sculpture, is hard to know of course.

UPDATE: again for sale at SGL on 11 November 2018, with a seriously revised estimate of 1,200 to 1,500 Euro. Should have no trouble finding a buyer at that price.

UPDATE: a better version was sold at Artcurial in November 2018 for 23,000 Euro!

"Ca. 1480" or "First half 17th century"?

Pforzheimer, from Germany, sells on 23 June 2018 as lot 338 a "Follower of Robert Campin, ca. 1480" Virgin and child, estimated at 6,000 Euro.

The work, a copy of a famous work by Campin from the Städel in Frankfurt, was according to the RKD previously sold by Phillips London in 1998, but then described as "First half 17th century", which seems more correct based on the background.

Not many old full-length copies of this work are known, making it interesting, and it shows how long the work of Campin was appreciated in the following centuries before it became largely forgotten. But that doesn't justify dating this copy to a very early 1480, which doesn't fit the style at all. Late 16th century would be the very earliest, but 17th century seems a perfect match, looking at the way e.g. the clothes are made more shiny, and how the drapery is placed behind the scene.

This of course has an influence on the value. 6,000 Euro would have been very cheap for a 1480 painting of this size and reasonable quality, but seems the max this work can achieve when one considers its real age. But it has the distinction of being the first Robert Campin copy I have highlighted!

"Antwerp School" is by or after Laurence Neter

Deutsch, from Austria, sells on 27 June 2018 an "Antwerp School, ca. 1700" Adam and Eve, estimated at 1,800 to 2,800 Euro.

It is a copy after a painting I already discussed at some length in February 2017, when another (worse) copy appeared at auction. This one stays much closer to the original by Laurence Neter from 1639, but lacks finesse in e.g. the Adam (who has a nice moustache!)

There seems to be some inscription on the rock to the left, but I can't decipher it. Possibly it's simply an indication of the Bible verse, it it is very short and seems to start with "G" (for Genesis)?

The estimate seems about right.