"Spinning virgin revisited"

Badisches Auktionshaus, from Germany, sells on 13 December 2017 a "16th / 17th century" Mary with spindle, estimated at 800 Euro.

It immediately reminded me of one of my early blog posts from March 2015, on the "Virgin child spinning", a theme which is popular in so-called Cuzco painting. The painting then was a lot better than the one now (although this one is charming and not too amateuristic, which is often a plague with Cuzco paintings), but then again the estimate was 10,000 Euro, not 800 Euro.

Searching for more information on the one for sale now led me by a happy coincidence to more information on the painting I discussed back then.

I knew that it was sold at the previous auction, but not for how much. The new owner is Robert Simon Fine Art, a major Old Master dealer from New York City.

They have been able to attribute the painting to Juan Simon Gutierrez (1643-1718), and they describe it as "the earliest and most elaborate depiction of the Child Virgin Spinning theme." They also claim that the version in the Prado (which I also discussed in that earlier blog post) is also by Gutierrez. No indication of the current price, but it may be considerable...

They also seem to carry other paintings I discussed, e.g. this one.

The one for sale in Baden is probably a lot more recent than the description thinks, I would guess it is late 18th or 19th century. The value is probably about right. 

UPDATE: The Robert Simon version was sold by them by 2020, no idea of the price, they seemed to be pretty proud of it so I guess it wasn't cheap.   

"Master of the Loire Valley" is Master of the Magdalen Legend

Hampel, from Germany, sells on 7 December 2017 a "Second half of the 15th Century French Master, probably a Master of the Loire Valley" Virgin and Child, estimated at 15,000 to 25,000 Euro.

The composition is a version of a work by the Master of the Magdalen Legend: the position of the child, the way the breast is held, and the jewel on the forehead of the Virgin. The main difference is the thickness and darkness of the shadows, creating a much heavier (and somewhat later) effect than the usual versions by the Master of the Magdalen Legend.

One version (attributed to the Workshop) was sold at Sotheby's in 2013 for $46,000.

Another version was sold again at Sotheby's, in 2010, for $134,000.

Other versions can be found according to the RKD at the Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp, on the art market in Berlin, ... Some have a background, most are on a gold ground; most are rounded at the top, some are squared, some are tondos.

This particular version is either the same as or very, very close to one sold by Sotheby's to art dealer Wildenstein in 1948, and was by Friedländer attributed to the Master of the Magdalen Legend (information and image from the RKD). Most telling is the background: it has the same lighter stripe horizontally at the height of the jewel, and the same lighter on the top left and top middle (other lighter patches in the black and white photographs are due to the RKD watermark, the main disadvantage of using pictures from the RKD).

Even though this is one of the most common 15th century Flemish works, and the Master of the Magdalen Legend is a poor man's Hans Memling, it still is a very good and rare example of true Early Netherlandish Painting; and with a provenance going back to at least 1948 (plus the chance that Sotheby's or their 1948 catalogue will have more information), and an attribution by Friedländer himself (he isn't infallible, but he remains the greatest art historian for this period), you can't go wrong at the estimate, and this can easily fetch 50,000 Euro.

UPDATE: sold for 120,000 Euro, more than even I expected!

"South Italian, style of Caravaggio" is copy after Rubens

Hampel, from Germany, sells on7 December 2017 a "South Italian, first half of the 17th century, style of Caravaggio" Give unto Caesar, estimated at 4,000 to 6,000 Euro.

It is a reverse copy after Peter Paul Rubens, "Tribute Money", now in the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. The estimate seems rather high as it is not the best painted version (e.g. the Jesus is rather poor).

"Cornelis Massys" is another follower of Gillis Mostaert

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 12 December 2017 a "Flemish School, 17th century" Crucifixion, estimated at 700 to 1,000 Euro.

Comparable poor copy of the Mostaert composition

Something closer to the original

More elaborate one

It is attributed on the frame to Cornelis Massys (1508-1556), but this is rightly rejected by the auction house. It is yet another copy of the best-known work of Gillis Mostaert, which I have (with many examples) discussed in a blog post in February 2017.


This copy isn't good enough to be an original by Mostaert, but as an old version of a known work, in good condition and with some interesting details in the background to lift it above the usual Flemish crucifixions, it should easily fetch the estimate and is probably worth 1,200 Euro or so.

Healing of the lame by Saints Peter and John

Carlo Bonte, from Belgium, sells on 13 December 2017 a "Southern Netherlands, 17th century" Healing of the lame by Peter and John, estimated at 6,000 to 8,000 Euro.

At first I was looking for an artist like Bartholomeus Spranger, who ha a similar femininity in some of his figures, curved like the Saint John is here, and whose angels and faces look similar as well. A drawing I found at the RKD seemed to point in the same direction. But the work had too many more Baroque elements to be satisfyingly attributed to Spranger.

Further research led me to an engraving by the very prolific Jacques Callot (1592-1635), a French artist who was influential throughout Europe. The work for sale is a faithful but very good copy of the engraving, and in fact in many aspects improves upon the engraving (which is unusual).

Apparently the engraving was based on a painting by Ludovico Cardi (Cigoli) (1559-1613), for which I haven't found an original. The above two images are both said to be by Cigoli in online searches, but aren't good enough to be by him. The work for sale is a lot better, but when seen up close shows some less precise, more rushed sections, the kind of thing one would expect more in a copy than in an original. So perhaps this is a copy made by some rather good Flemish painter while on his Grand Tour?

Copies normally aren't worth a lot, but this one is good. If (and it's a big if) the original of the work is lost, then it might be worth even more as the best representation left of it, but usually for every copy I can find online a lot of others are still unavailable or much harder to find. It should be worth around the estimate.

If, by chance, this turns out to be the original after all (which isn't impossible, Cigoli isn't the most perfect artist and often has weaker parts in his works), it should be worth 30,000 Euro instead (not because a name is worth more than an anonymous work, but because an original is worth more than a copy).

Vranckx, Pynas, Francken? Why not Breughel!

Horta, from Belgium, sells on 11 December 2017 a "Flemish School, early 17th century, Circle of Breughel" Preaching of John the Baptist, estimated at 8,000 to 12,000 Euro.

The fun bit is that I already discussed this composition in June 2015, and then concluded that it was hard to attribute, as I could find versions linked to Sebastian Vranckx, Frans Francken, and Jan Pynas. So now we may add Pieter Breughel to that list... I don't see much of a connection to his work, but it is a name that sells, and when a work is reasonably good, Flemish, and late 16th century in style, why not aim for the best?

All versions have minor differences (e.g. this is the only one of the five shown where the standing woman on the left isn't holding a parasol), and all have a completely different background (almost as if the original had no background and every copiist had to fill in the blanks). This version is one of the better, but the estimate seems a bit high and I would estimate this one at 5,000 to 6,000 Euro instead.

Harp

Rops, from Belgium, sells on 17 December 2017 an "18th century" King Salomon, estimated at 4,000 to 5,000 Euro.

No idea who painted it, it is too generic and not showing enough character to place it with or close to a specific painter, but I can tell you two things: it is a King David, not a King Salomon, and the beautiful harp is not a new invention but copied with minor modifications (making it less explicit, which may also explain the changed position of the harp).

It can be found originally on a painting of the same subject by Domenichino, some 200 years earlier. Our painter may have learned about it from a print (example from the British Museum).

The estimate seems somewhat optimistic, but Rops has surprisingly high results sometimes.