(Antwerp 1591–1651)
The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist,
oil on canvas, laid down on panel, 172 x 145 cm, framed

Provenance:
G. Peters Collection, Venlo (1936, as Gerard Seghers);
European private collection

Literature:
J.-P. de Bruyn, Erasmus Quellinus II, Freren, 1988, pp. 116/17, under no. 30, fig. 30/1 (as workshop of Erasmus Quellinus)
J.-P. de Bruyn first published the present painting on the basis of a poor photograph, and subsequently revised his opinion and reassigned the work to the oeuvre of Gerard Seghers while considering a participation of the workshop.

Gerard Seghers, a history painter from Antwerp, was probably trained by Abraham Janssens and in 1608/9 he became a master of his native town’s Guild of Saint Luke. In 1610 he entered the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens, where he stayed for a year. He is known to have travelled to Italy and Spain. In 1630, Philip IV of Spain appointed Seghers as court painter. The painter’s most important patron was the Jesuit order, for whose churches the artist painted numerous altarpieces. Under the impact of Bartolomeo Manfredi and Gerrit van Honthorst, whom he had met in Rome, Seghers initially worked in the style of Caravaggio, using cold light effects. His paintings produced after 1630 display an increasing influence from Peter Paul Rubens.