The Penitent Saint Jerome,
oil on panel, 109 x 76 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Sotheby’s, Amsterdam, 14 May 2002, lot 34 (as Antwerp School, first
half of the 17th century);
where acquired by the present owner

Exhibited:
Aachen, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, on loan, 2009 – 2019 (as Frans Badens)

The present panel depicting Saint Jerome, by an as yet unknown hand, is exceptional for its fine graphic style, perceived in the rendering of the beard and hair of the saint and in the soft chiaroscuro handling of the saint’s body. Notable for its beautiful state of conservation, the painting first appeared at auction in Amsterdam in 2002, as Antwerp School, dated to the first half of the seventeenth century. However, both dendrochronological research of the oak panel by Peter Klein in addition to the rare incised panel makers mark of Guilliam Aertssen have confirmed an earlier date of execution, in the later 1590s.

Jørgen Wadum has identified the initials CA or GA in the panel maker’s mark as Guilliam Aertssen and observed that instead of being branded the mark is incised and thus very rare. Only three other paintings with a similar incised mark and all dating from the later 16th century are known today. These are a Calvary in the Cathedral of Auxerre; a Nativity and one other panel both in private collections. Recent archival research has confirmed Guilliam Aertssen was probably born in Antwerp in 1579 and that he was active as master panel and frame maker in that city from the 1590s until circa 1638. In 1617 Aertssen was among the panel makers who signed the petition asking the Panel Makers Guild for regulation and quality assurance of Antwerp’s panels. This initiated the process of standardization of formats and qualities, each panel now being controlled by the Guild and after approval branded with the coat-of-arms of the city of Antwerp. The incised mark, such as was used in the present panel, precedes this regulation and thus does not appear in conjunction with that of the Antwerp coat-of-arms. Aertsen is the topic of ongoing research, (see I. Moortgat, J. Wadum, An enigmatic panel maker from Antwerp and his supply to the Brueghels, in: The Brueghel Success Story, Symposium XXI for the Study of Underdrawing and Technology in Painting, Brussels, 2018).

Dendrochronological research of the oak panel was carried out by Peter Klein in December 2019. It confirmed a Polish/Baltic origin of the oak wood, the youngest growth ring dating from 1573 and allowing an earliest possible date of creation of 1584 and upwards.

The present Saint Jerome is thus a fine and rare depiction of the saint painted in Antwerp and dating from the last decade of the sixteenth century and preceding the interpretations by Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck of 1612/5 and 1615/6, now in the Gemäldegalerie Dresden and the Liechtenstein Princely Collections by some fifteen years. It foreshadows these later compositions in the full-length pose in profile of the saint. This full-length and profile pose marks the switch from the earlier depictions of the saint as a scholar, such as was introduced by Albrecht Dürer in his painting of 1521, now in Lisbon, and which was repeated by Joos van Cleve and Jan Sanders van Hemessen in their numerous depictions of the saint in the first half of the century, to a representation of the saint as hermit and penitent. Obviously, this change was the result of the Baroque predilection for depictions which could emotionally appeal to the viewer. The author of the present painting has not yet been identified, although he must have been among the painters working in Antwerp in the last quarter of the seventeenth century and thus contemporary with Maerten de Vos, and the early members of the Francken family.

Infrared reflectography has revealed underdrawing in the outlines of the Saint’s figure and his arm, in the skull and in the lion.

Copies of Jørgen Wadum’s report on the panel maker’s mark by Guilliam Aertssen, dating from 13 October 2019 and the dendrochronological report by Peter Klein, dating from 5 December 2019, accompany the present lot.