(Antwerp 1580–1662)
Susanna and the Elders,
oil on copper, 59.5 x 79 cm, framed

We are grateful to Klaus Ertz for confirming the attribution in full. The present painting will be included in his forthcoming catalogue raisonnée.
A previous attribution to Isaac van Oosten by Klaus Ertz has been dicarded.

The present painting bears a traditional attribution to Jan Brueghel the Younger. A very similar variant of the present composition, also on copper and then also given to Jan Brueghel the Younger, was at Lempertz in 2009 (lot 1054, 15 May). Klaus Ertz, however, now considers both versions to be works by Adriaen van Stalbemt, rather than Jan Brueghel.

This charming painting shows a beautifully rendered garden with a fountain, several flower pots and animals such as a peacock. The garden is formally designed as was fashionable in seventeenth-century courts in The Netherlands, England and France. In the background there is a pavillion which is an architectural fantasy. The scenery and the animals are rendered in strong local colours. Thanks to the stable copper support the paint has been beautifully preserved. The glazes and the highlights have all remained, which allow us to enjoy the painterly execution. The central group of figures in the present painting occurs more often in Flemish art. Its design was made popular by a print executed by Lucas Vosterman based on a design by Peter Paul Rubens. The drawing made in preparation for the print is now conserved in the British museum (inv. 1895,0915.1056). The print by Vosterman was made around 1620. The figure group in the painting and the design by Vosterman both face the same direction.

It is impossible to establish whether the artist based his main figures on the drawing by Vosterman or the original painting by Rubens, painted circa 1616-17, which is now lost. We know though that he did not rely on Vosterman’s print, which is reversed to the figures in the present painting. The Old Testament theme of Susannah and the Elders was very popular among seventeenth-century painters. It is an exemplum story of virtue, but it also gave the opportunity to an artist to depict a chaste beautiful nude woman. The story is related in the book of Daniel (13, 19-23). It tells how the beautiful Susannah, who was married to a rich man from Babylon, took a bath in the exquisite garden of her house. Two elders, who were friends with her father, spied on her and after the gate of the garden was closed, they came to her and tried to seduce her, threatening that they would spread rumours about her if she did not give in. Being a chaste woman, she refused. Not only Rubens and his circle made several renderings of the subject, the theme was also important to Rembrandt in a series of paintings, drawings and etchings throughout his career.

The painting is executed on a relatively large copper plate. Painting on copper became popular in Italy over the course of the sixteenth century. Working on this metal reached its peak around 1600 in the artistic centres of Rome, Prague and Antwerp. Shortly after 1640 a few painters in Antwerp, most notably Jan Brueghel the Younger and Willem van Herp, painted on large copper supports. Adriaen van Stalbemt made a name for himself as a landscapist and figure painter. We know of signed and dated works by the artist executed between 1604 and 1629 which may serve as a basis for further research into the artist’s oeuvre. To date the present painting has been insufficiently explored. Thanks to his characteristic hand as a painter it is possible to attribute even unsigned works with reasonable certainty, including the present painting, which easily fits in with the oeuvre of this Flemish master.

Luuk Pijl has suggested an alternative attribution to Jan Brueghel the younger. His certificate, giving the present painting to Brueghel in full, accompanies the present painting.