(Antwerp 1624–1677)
The wounds of St. Sebastian tended by angels,
verso the mark of the Antwerp panel maker,
oil on panel, 41.2 x 32 cm, framed

We are grateful to Dr Axel Heinrich, who has identified this painting as a work by Pieter Thijs based on a photograph. A certificate by Dr Heinrich, dated 2013, is available.

Thijs, who entered the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp in 1644 as a pupil of Van Dyck, is one of few artists to have enjoyed success both in the North and South Netherlands. He worked as court painter to the Stadtholder, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in Brussels, as well as for the house of Orange in The Hague. His paintings after well-known compositions by his master, van Dyck were also highly popular. He scaled down the latter’s monumental works producing small cabinet pieces. This cabinet painting, built up in fine glazes, is a variant of this kind, the composition taken from a painting, now destroyed, by van Dyck (formerly in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg). It was executed shortly after his return from Italy. This version differs in some details markedly from the St. Petersburg painting. A broader field of view has been chosen, for instance, whereby the figure of the angel, who removes the shackle from Sebastian’s foot, is placed further away affording a view of the landscape on the right hand edge of the panel.