Lot 268: * GUILLAUME COURTOIS

PORTRAIT OF A MAN, PROBABLY PETER VAN HECKE, STANDING THREE-QUARTER LENGHT IN BLACK; PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN, PROBABLY HIS WIFE CLARA FOURMENT, SEATED THREE QUARTER LENGHT IN BLACK, HOLDING A FAN

each 45 1/4 by 35 1/2 in.; 114.9 by 90.2 cm.

a pair, both oil on canvas

The present work relates to a painting which has recently been acquired by the Musée des Beaux Arts, Besançon, a Portrait (or self portrait?) of Jacques Courtois. Both are oil on paper, however, the present work is freer in its handling and slightly smaller in size. Opinion as to which of the two brothers painted these works has varied. However, there are two studies in the Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Rome which are comparable to the present composition that are by Guillaume ("Guglielemo Cortese, presunto ritratto del fratello Giacomo," see G. Salvagnini, I pittori Borgognoni Cortese, Rome 1937).