(Munich 1564–1625 Augsburg)
Venus and Cupid (Spring), oil on panel, 25.5 x 20 cm, framed

Provenance: Belgian private collection.

Exhibited: “Hans Rottenhammer – begehrt, vergessen, neu entdeckt”, Weserrenaissance-Museum Schloss Brake, Lemgo 2008, and Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2008/9, no. 53.

Literature: Th. Fusenig, “Hans Rottenhammer und die Antwerpener Malerei des frühen 17. Jahrhunderts”, in: Hans Rottenhammer (1564–1625), Ergebnisse des in Kooperation mit dem Institut für Kunstgeschichte der tschechischen Akademie der Wissenschaften durchgeführten internationalen Symposions am Weserrenaissance-Museum Schloss Brake (February 2007), ed. by H. Borggrefe, V. Lüpkes, L. Konecny and M. Bischoff, Marburg 2007, p. 165; Hans Rottenhammer, exh. cat., Lemgo/Vienna 2008/9, pp. 149–151. In the catalogue accompanying the Rottenhammer exhibition in Lemgo and Vienna, the present painting is described as follows: “The depiction of Venus and Cupid amidst flowers is reminiscent of allegories of Spring… The composition dates from Rottenhammer’s late period. As to the manner of painting, it can be compared to the artist’s Venus and Cupid in the Dresden Picture Gallery, which is dated 1620. In those years, Rottenhammer no longer painted in a miniature manner on small copper panels, but used mid-sized wooden panels or canvases. Another comparative example is his Young Bacchus with a Lion, which is painted on wood and dated 1619…” Rottenhammer’s Venus painting seems to have been very popular among collectors, for it appears on four ‘gallery interiors’ by the Flemish painter Guillam van Haecht (ex Coll. Charles de Beistegui, Paris; ex Château de Groussay/France, Mauritshuis, The Hague, Rubenshuis, Antwerp).

The present painting was already identified as a work by Rottenhammer by Julius Held and is an important addition to the oeuvre of this significant painter.

Provenance: Belgian private collection. Exhibited: “Hans Rottenhammer – begehrt, vergessen, neu entdeckt”, Weserrenaissance-Museum Schloss Brake, Lemgo 2008, and Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2008/9, no. 53. Literature: Th. Fusenig, “Hans Rott