Lot 92: THE PROPERTY OF A BELGIAN FAMILY LOUIS FINSON BRUGES 1580 - 1617 AMSTERDAM AN ALLEGORY OF THE FOUR

THE PROPERTY OF A BELGIAN FAMILY LOUIS FINSON BRUGES 1580 - 1617 AMSTERDAM AN ALLEGORY OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS

signed and dated lower right: Lovs. Finsonsivs Fecit/ APRIL Aº 1611.

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Possibly Jehan Letoir, Amsterdam, perhaps by 1618 and in 1621-4, when presumably sold by him to the King of Denmark (see note above);
Rombout family, Ghent, from whom bought by the present owner, circa 1993.
LITERATURE AND REFERENCES

Possibly [P.A. Leupe], 'Schilderijen den Koning van Denemarken to koop angeboden. 1618', in F.D.O. Obreen, Archief voor Nederlandsche kunstgeschiedenis, vol. II, Rotterdam 1879-80, pp. 135-7;
Possibly A Bredius, in U. Thieme and F. Becker (ed.), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildender Künstler, vol. XI, Leipzig 1915, p. 589;
Possibly D. Bodart, Catalogue de L'oeuvre de Louis Finson, Brussels 1970, pp. 128-29 and 154.
CATALOGUE NOTE

Louis Finson was born in Bruges before March 1580 into a family of painters. He was first apprenticed to his father, Jacques Finson (1555-before 1608), a painter of decorations in Bruges, until around 1600, when he went Italy, where he lived in Rome. From perhaps1606, and certainly by 1608, until 1612, Finson was in Naples where he deepened his acquaintance with the work of Caravaggio (1571-1610), first encountered in Rome. Finson may possibly have been a pupil of Caravaggio; he certainly made copies after Caravaggios work and is known to have owned at least two of his paintings, one of which was the Madonna of the Rosary, now at Vienna, which he bought with Abraham Vinck, perhaps as early as 1607.

The present painting, made in April 1611, dates from Finson's Neapolitan period and clearly shows the dominant influence of Caravaggio, although he has not entirely abandoned the etiolated figural style of Giuseppe Cesari, called Cavaliere D'Arpino (1568-1640), whose work was also to be found in quantity in Naples, and whose influence can be noted in other works from his Neapolitan period, such as the Annunciation at the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples. The present picture is an important landmark in his development, and a key work in our understanding of his artistic personality in this period.

Paradoxically, Finson's later works painted in France are yet more ardently Caravaggesque in character, and he played a key rôle in introducing Caravaggism to Southern France. In 1612 he went to Spain and then Provence with Martin Faber (1587-1648) and stayed with him there until circa 1616: in 1613 they were in Marseille, to collaborate on a depiction of the Raising of Lazarus (Parochial Church of Chateau-Gombert, Marseille); and in the following years he went to Aix-en-Provence, Arles and Paris. In 1616 he is recorded back in the Low Countries, and he executed his last will on 19th September 1617 in Amsterdam.

Personifications of the Four Elements were conventionally depicted as four females distinguished only by their attributes. Louis Finson, however, used a different type of presentation; the elements as male and female, entangled in a fierce struggle. Fire (upper right) is depicted as a strong, young man surrounded by flames. He is in a firm grip with Water (lower left) and holding Air (upper left) down. Air, an almost floating woman, is literary pushed up in the air by water. She grabs fire by his hair and at the same time holding him back with her right leg. Water, a bearded, older but very strong man is seated with his knees up and surrounded by small waves. He tries to push the element of Earth away with his feet. Earth (lower right) is depicted as an older lady lying on her back and grabbing the chest of water. She is surrounded by brown earth and tries to grip Fire by his left leg, who carefully steps over her.

All the elements have a very distinctive facial expression. Fire shows a very determined face and air is depicted actually grasping for air. The element of Water is gazing with a very serious expression, trying to determine how he is going to take a stand against all the other elements. Earth appears very insecure and looks directly at viewer, almost asking for help. As all the expressions resemble the different reactions between the elements, so are the different poses of the bodies. Fire was believed to be the main rival of Water, and could be stopped by Air. Water forms the basis for Air, can not be caught by Fire and manages to slip through Earth. Earth can not burn and Water will always run through it.

This may very well be the Finson offered for sale by the Amsterdam dealer Jean Letoir to the King of Denmark through his Court Painter Pieter Isaacsz. (1569-1625) in 1621. Although the purchase seems to have been made, it was tied to the acquisition of a second Finson, a Massacre of the Innocents, and it was not until 1624 that the deal was apparently concluded with Isaacsz., although it is not known if the paintings ever went to Denmark.

179.4 by 169.5 cm.