(Antwerp 1589–1626) and (Antwerp 1581–1642)
The Virgin and Child with music-making angels in a landscape,
oil on panel, 49 x 65.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Phillips, London, 10 April 1990, lot 192 (as Frans Francken III);
Private collection, Germany;
sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 13 October 2010, lot 509;
Private European collection

Literature:
U. Härting, Abraham Govaerts, Der Waldmaler, Hamm 2003, p. 148, no. 123

A second version of this composition painted on copper is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon. To quote Ursula Härting in her certificate on the present painting from 1991: “In the eyes of contemporary collectors, the collaboration between two specialists, namely that between a figure painter and a landscapist, in one painting contributed to its painterly perfection. The persuasive expressivity of figures by the hand of a versed specialist incorporated into a subtly painted landscape by another artist met the viewer’s expectations in terms of both visual and emotional qualities. The illusionistic depth of the landscape, with its narrow view into the distance framed by a setting of trees, the physiognomy of the figures, and the treatment of the drapery suggest that this charming painting was executed around 1615–18.”