Lot 8: Studio of Frans Floris I (Antwerp 1519/20-1570)

Studio of Frans Floris I (Antwerp 1519/20-1570)
Susannah and the Elders
oil on panel, unframed
38¼ x 50 1/8 in. (97.2 x 127.3 cm.)

THE PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN COLLECTOR

Susannah and the Elders was a particularly popular subject among Northern artists in the mid-16th century and this fascinating example bears the influence of several important artists who were working in Antwerp in the 1560s. The sculptural depiction of drapery and the classical elements of the architecture also support an attribution to an artist who either visited Italy or was exposed to Italian art through prints.

According to Dr. Larry Silver, the figures and coloring are close to those by Frans Floris the Elder (based on photographs; private email correspondence, November 2009). Indeed, Max Friedländer's description of Floris' style seems apt when looking at the present painting:

'Floris's female nudes are quite different from his men...His slender beauties move smoothly, half Diana, half amazon. The delicate fingers of their well-groomed boneless hands lie parallel and slightly curving...More than once Floris's pictorial ingenuity seems to rest on the contrast of man and woman, of strength and grace, on serrated knots of muscle versus a smooth flow of contours.' (M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, XIII, New York, 1975, p. 36)

In Susannah and the Elders Susannah's porcelain skin does contrast with the sinewy muscles and wrinkled faces of the two men, and there are other idiocyncratic traits that are reminiscent of Floris. For example, 'long, delicate fingers, curving in parallel' as Friedländer describes them (Friedländer, op. cit., p. 39) are evident in the outstretched hands of Susannah and the old man at the far left. In addition, we see an example of Floris's habit of including a highly detailed decorative element - in this case the gilt-edged ewer resting on a ledge at the right of the composition. Many of these elements can be seen in a painting of Susannah and the Elders now in the Pitti Palace, Florence which Friedländer attributes in full to Floris (Friedländer, op. cit., pl. 64, no. 122). In the mid-16th century, Floris was at the peak of his career and running an extensive workshop to keep up with all his commissions so it is impossible to preclude, and is actually very likely that there was, studio participation in the present lot.

The artist who painted this work seems also to have been familiar with the art of Maarten van Heemskerck (1498-1574), whose influence is especially evident in the rendering of drapery which seems wet as it folds over bodies and ends in pools of swirling fabric on the ground. These deep, almost sculptural folds of fabric derive from Michelangelo and classical sculpture as filtered through the aesthetic of Heemskerck, who had spent time in Italy from 1532-36/7.

This painting has been attricuted variously to the Master of the Prodigal Son (fl. circa 1530-1560) and Jan Massys (circa 1509-1575). The still-unidentified Master of the Prodigal Son, known for his Old Testament scenes, has been linked to Frans Floris, while Jan Massys favored subjects that contrasted young women with older men, such as Susannah and the Elders, Lot and his Daugthers, and Bathsheba at her toilet. See for example Lot and his Daughters, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (A. Balis et. al., La peinture flamande au Kunsthistorisches Museum de Vienne, Antwerp, 1987, pp. 58-59).
We are grateful to Dr. Larry Silver for suggesting the attribution from a photograph and for his assistance cataloguing this lot.