Lot 1041 | Holy Family

FLEMISH MASTER
ca. 1600
Title: Holy Family.
Technique: Oil on wood.
Measurement: 65,5 x 51,5cm.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

The composition of the present panel goes back to a work by the Flemish artist Gerard David (ca. 1460 - 1523), which is lost today. It is known from a drawing in the Vienna Albertina, which in turn served as the model for a small series of different versions.
Catheline Périer-D'Ieteren mentions "Dal Ritrovamento all'Indagine. Due Sacre Famiglie di ambito fiammingo a confronto: storia, iconografia, restauro" (2008) as well as in the revue Belge d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'Art a total of five known versions: in addition to the Viennese drawing, two works in museums in Genoa and two additional versions, one in the Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee, another in private ownership, which was exhibited in Bruges in 1902 and was offered for sale at Christie's in 2006.
What they all have in common is the composition of the image with a central Madonna and Child on her lap, and architecture in the background. In the left-hand area, the carpenter Joseph is always seen in a passageway; in contrast to the versions quoted, Joseph appears in this panel against a landscape background rather than a city view. Stylistically, the panel was probably created somewhat later, so that the scope for variation is explained here.

Cf. Literature:
C. Périer-D'Ieteren: Production d'Atelier et Exportation. Cinq Versions de Sainte Famille de l'Entourage de Gérard David. In: Revue Belge d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'Art LXXVII, Brussels 2008, p. 27ff;
C. Périer-D'Ieteren: Sainte Famille, Etourage de Gérard David - Prototype et Variantes. In: exhib. cat. "Dal Ritrovamento all'Indagine. Due Sacre Famiglie di ambito fiammingo a confronto: storia, iconografia, restauro", Museo Diocesano, Genoa 2008, p. 9ff.

We are grateful to Peter van den Brink, Aachen, and Catheline Périer-D'Ieteren, Brussels, for their kind support in cataloguing the present work.