Lot 47: Artus Wolffort (Antwerp 1581-1641)

The Deposition
oil on canvas, unframed
78 3/4 x 62 3/4 in. (200 x 159.4 cm.)

C.F. Foster, Katalog der Herzoglichen Gemäldegalerie zu Meiningen, Meiningen, 1865, p. 8, no. 4, as Annibale Carracci.
Verzeichnis der bedeutendsten Gemälde in Herzogl. Residenzschlosse zu Meiningen, Meiningen, c. 1890, no. 22, as Annibale Carracci, in the Gesandten-Empfangszimer.
P. Lehfeld and G. Voss, Bau- und Kunst-Denkmäler Thüringens, XXXV, Herzogthum Sachsen-Meiningen, Jena, 1909, p. 173, as in the style of Caravaggio.
Ausstellungskatalog der Meininger Gemäldegalerie, Meiningen, 1956, p. 20, fig. X, as Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.

In the collection of the Gallery of the Dukes of Saxe-Meiningen, and by descent.

Three other versions of this composition have been attributed to Artus Wolffort by Professor Hans Vlieghe (see H. Vlieghe, 'Zwischen van Veen und Rubens: Artus Wolfford (1581-1641), ein vergessener Antwerpener Maler', Wallraf-Richartz-jb., XXXIX, 1977, pp. 93-136), the master of Pieter van Mol, to whom the present lot was previously attributed. This version appears to be of equal merit with that of the other three, particularly that in the Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht (judging from a photograph). It is here proposed that the present lot is an autograph replica, although studio participation cannot be excluded.

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