Lot 38: STUDIO OF SIR PETER PAUL RUBENS SIEGEN 1577 - 1640 ANTWERP

PORTRAIT OF THE PAINTER FRANS FRANCKEN THE ELDER (1542-1616), HALF LENGTH

measurements note
63.6 by 48.2 cm.; 25 by 19 in.

bears the antwerp panel makers mark on the reverse
and bears inscription on the reverse: Frans Francken; Geschildert door P.P. Rubens/ Kommende van de Jesuiten van Gent en aangekocht in een/ publieke verkoop te Brussel in mei 1777/ Apporté en France en 1794 par Louis de Tassigny commissaire de la République Française
Grotius

oil on panel, in a carved and gilt wood frame

PROVENANCE

The Jesuit Order, Ghent;
By whom sold, Brussels, Lannoy, 5 May 1777;
Brought to France in 1794 by Louis de Tassigny, commissaire of the French Republic (all according to an inscription on the reverse);
Thence by inheritance to Madame Bernard de la Rochmacé, née Tassigny.

NOTE

This is a studio copy after Rubens' original portrait now in Montpellier, Musée Fabre (inv. no. 833-I-I; see H. Vlieghe, Corpus Rubenianum: Rubens Portraits, vol. XIX, part II, London and New York 1987, p. 112, no. 105, reproduced figs. 116 and 118). The identity of the sitter as Frans Francken the Elder is confirmed by Sir Anthony van Dyck's etching after Rubens' prototype (reproduced in Vlieghe, op. cit., fig. 119; see Fig. 1 here) which probably dates from 1615-16.

This version may be compared with another (presumably) studio version formerly in the De Ridder collection that sold Paris, Petit, 2 June 1924, lot 59, which is of the same dimensions and of a similar level of quality. The copy formerly in the Julius Böhler collection, Berlin, is of far lesser quality and measures 66 by 50 cm. (mentioned Vlieghe, ibid., as no. 5), and cannot therefore be identified with the present work (see Witt Library mount).

This lot is accompanied by the certificate of Prof. Justus Müller Hofstede, dated 20 May 1973, attributing the painting to Rubens and dating it to c.1625, a few years after the Montpellier picture.