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Lot Essay
Though the figure of the gesturing putto in this painting has previously been attributed to Sir Anthony van Dyck, Cornelis Schut and Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert, and the still life elements to Daniël Seghers or a close follower, Dr. Bert Schepers has recently proposed instead that it is the work of Erasmus Quellinus II (on the basis of photographs; private communication, 7 June 2024), a talented pupil and collaborator of Sir Peter Paul Rubens in the 1630s. Fred G. Meijer has further suggested that the still-life elements are by one, possibly two, thus far unidentifiable hands (private communication, 4 October 2024).
The early attribution to van Dyck is understandable because, as Schepers has pointed out, the figure derives from the angel seated at the base of van Dyck’s Christ on the cross with Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Dominic and an angel of circa 1622-7 in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp (fig. 1). Intriguingly, van Dyck’s painting was engraved by Schelte à Bolswert in 1653 from an intermediary drawing by Quellinus. A similar putto also appears at lower centre in Quellinus’s grisaille modello for Paulus Pontius’s engraved double portrait of Rubens and van Dyck, which was recently returned to the Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth House after its theft in 1979.
The Latin inscription on the leaf of paper tucked between the pages of the book emphasises the painting’s vanitas theme, translating to ‘For my days vanish like smoke’, taken from Psalm 101:4. The putto, in turn, further reinforces the idea by pointing over his shoulder to billowing smoke while sitting atop a sarcophagus inscribed with the letters ‘D.M.S.’ for ‘Dis Manibus Sacrum’ (‘for the ghost-gods’), a common pagan inscription preceding the name of the deceased on a tombstone. The floral bouquet similarly conveys a sense of transient beauty, for the flowers will wither and die, while the skull, crown, sceptre, richly worked cloth and bag of money all convey the ultimate futility of seeking earthly wealth and power.
The evident superior quality of the present picture has led Dr. Schepers to believe it to be the prime of this composition, of which various inferior versions have appeared on the market in recent years, including one given to Willeboirts Bosschaert at the Dorotheum, Vienna, 17 October 2007, lot 228; another described as by a follower of Jan van den Hoecke, sold at Bukowskis, Stockholm, 14-16 June 2023, lot 709; and one given to the workshop of Quellinus that appeared at Audap & Associés, Paris, 28 March 2024, lot 37.
We are grateful to Dr. Bert Schepers for suggesting the attribution to Erasmus Quellinus on the basis of photographs and for identifying the source for the putto, and to Dr. Fred G. Meijer for his thoughts on the still-life elements.
The early attribution to van Dyck is understandable because, as Schepers has pointed out, the figure derives from the angel seated at the base of van Dyck’s Christ on the cross with Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Dominic and an angel of circa 1622-7 in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp (fig. 1). Intriguingly, van Dyck’s painting was engraved by Schelte à Bolswert in 1653 from an intermediary drawing by Quellinus. A similar putto also appears at lower centre in Quellinus’s grisaille modello for Paulus Pontius’s engraved double portrait of Rubens and van Dyck, which was recently returned to the Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth House after its theft in 1979.
The Latin inscription on the leaf of paper tucked between the pages of the book emphasises the painting’s vanitas theme, translating to ‘For my days vanish like smoke’, taken from Psalm 101:4. The putto, in turn, further reinforces the idea by pointing over his shoulder to billowing smoke while sitting atop a sarcophagus inscribed with the letters ‘D.M.S.’ for ‘Dis Manibus Sacrum’ (‘for the ghost-gods’), a common pagan inscription preceding the name of the deceased on a tombstone. The floral bouquet similarly conveys a sense of transient beauty, for the flowers will wither and die, while the skull, crown, sceptre, richly worked cloth and bag of money all convey the ultimate futility of seeking earthly wealth and power.
The evident superior quality of the present picture has led Dr. Schepers to believe it to be the prime of this composition, of which various inferior versions have appeared on the market in recent years, including one given to Willeboirts Bosschaert at the Dorotheum, Vienna, 17 October 2007, lot 228; another described as by a follower of Jan van den Hoecke, sold at Bukowskis, Stockholm, 14-16 June 2023, lot 709; and one given to the workshop of Quellinus that appeared at Audap & Associés, Paris, 28 March 2024, lot 37.
We are grateful to Dr. Bert Schepers for suggesting the attribution to Erasmus Quellinus on the basis of photographs and for identifying the source for the putto, and to Dr. Fred G. Meijer for his thoughts on the still-life elements.