Featured Bacchanal ... who painted it ?

Here's a Bacchanal with Bacchus at the center. Oil on canvas. 55 cm x 50 cm. Looks Italian and 17th century to me. Maybe the frame is the original.

I hope you can identify the artist ?

 

It shows up online in connection with Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers, Copenhagen. Maybe you could contact them.

 

..... here's a link with a good range of photos
https://bruun-rasmussen.dk/m/lots/6E57B2AFFD1D?q=Bacchus&status=sold

 

Painter unknown. 17th century. According to the auction site.

Debora

 

I bought it at Bruun Rasmussen and they didn't know. But thanks anyway ...

 

That would have been helpful information to put in your initial post.

Debora

 

If they had known at Bruun Rasmussen I had't made this post.

 

Frankly, it's unlikely anyone here will know unless the image is somewhere to be found online.

 

Says it went for $2600 U.S. Nice piece,for what seems to me a decent price to me anyway.
As you know-you need to elicit the opinions of a group of 17th Century Italian Art Experts & have the physical painting examined scientifically by an acknowledged university laboratory (or poss multiple labs).
This is one of the very smartest gathering of brains on the Web-but I'm thinking you prob need PHD+++ level expertise on your piece to transform a $2600 piece into a $260,000 or 2.6 Mil piece.
Deep,deep research IMHO-good luck Gol !

 

No, I cannot tell you the painter, but, I do enlarge, then usually lighten down at the bottom, digitally, where most artists frequently/usually signed to see if there is anything in the dark areas......you would have to take it probably to an art museum to have them maybe x-ray to see if what I think I'm seeing MIGHT be a signature or signatures, among what I've hi-lighted....I see @David Broom has the auctioneer who has the far right (my #4) area I hi-lighted.....keep in mind that what I find is usually faint as I'm lightening up a DARK area!!! Best of luck with your research!!! Personally, I think @bosko69 is on target in his suggestions!!! It's just too well done!!!

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Thanks, Aquitaine! I can definitely see there is a signature of some sort on the lower right corner. I can also see the details better.

I would like to mention to "antique" art collectors, to always look at the detail of the hands if you like the artwork. When there's not enough hands or the information is unclear (it isn't to me), look at the feet. Feet are nearly as difficult to render as hands.

IMHO, Bacchus is way too thin and stylized to be the character in the center, although the "story" certainly does seem to portray him. IMHO, the frame is from the late-1800s. Please show us photos of the details and of the back. Paintings have been copied historically throughout time.

 

Bacchus's hand holding the jug is larger than the one he is supporting himself with.

Please post details of both the front and the back construction.

@Golgatha

 

It is a nice oil painting, but doubt it to be as advertised.

 

.... in what respects?

 

If you follow the auction house link, they have very high res photos. The construction is at least 1800s. Stretchers look like they dealt with some worms. They also have a lot of shop notations which make me wonder if it was re-stretched in a shop later.

I agree the faces, feet, etc. are not masterfully done. Seems like what passed for apprentice work then, and they didn't always sign things. "No. 8" is interesting, suggesting there were a series. Definitely something a curatorial expert would need to look at.

 

I personally think it's a genuine 17th/early 18th century painting and the 'No. 8' indicates it's spent part (probably most) of its life in a formal collection. I think tracing the artist through any facets of the artwork will be nigh on impossible - there's just nothing distinctive enough. An alternative route would be to try and trace the collection it came from - its first documented appearance on the market was in 1989 so for a start I’d try to find a catalogue for that sale in case a collection was being broken up. Why do you think it's Italian and not Danish or Dutch?

 

and if u make a post leaving out important information...it hinders our effectiveness .

 

Evidence to help date your painting and understand its history may be found in the construction of the strainer it is mounted on, the tacking edges, as well as the previous restoration work evident in the Bruun Rasmussen photo of the back. I would suggest that you take it to a paintings conservator for an assessment. They also may have examination techniques that might locate a signature, if one is present.

Trying to identify a painting by style alone is very difficult, and that is all we can see here. Having said that, the treatment of the sky, trees, irregular light and shade, and bright pigments used on the garments is somewhat similar to the work of Nicolas Poussin. I am not suggesting your painting is by Poussin, just that this might suggest some research directions regarding origin.


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nicolas_poussin,_armida_rapisce_rinaldo_morente,_1637_ca.jpg


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nicolas_Poussin_-_Mars_and_Venus_-_Google_Art_Project_(559039).jpg

 

Golgotha-If You want to see what goes into investigating a painting & establishing the painter & provenance of said work,it's worth watching-the British TV Documentary Series-'Fake or Fortune' on YouTube.

 

Thanks for the many answers ! The monetary value is of no interest to me. The Poussin track is interesting. Maybe one of his pupils ?