(Antwerp 1591–1651)
The Lamentation of Christ with the Virgin and two Angels
oil on canvas, 154.5 x 230 cm, unframed

Provenance:
sale Galleria Geri, Milan 23rd November 1931, lot 42 (as attributed to Luca Cambiaso);
Private European collection

Literature:
G. Papi, Indagini sulla fase matura di Bartolomeo Cavarozzi, in: Arte cristiana, 807, 2001, p. 427–438 (as Bartolomeo Cavarozzi)

We are grateful to Gianni Papi for confirming the attribution after inspection of the painting in the original.

We are also grateful to Anne Delvingt for independently confirming the attribution on the basis of a high resolution digital photograph.

Papi originally published the present painting as an autograph work by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi in 2001 (see literature) and compared the present work with another painting including the Virgin - virtually identical in pose and in every detail – with two angels and the symbols of the Passion. This latter picture was sold at Christie’s, New York, 12th June 1981, lot 211 (oil on canvas, 152 x 100 cm), with an attribution to Cavarozzi. 

Papi is now convinced that both pictures should in fact be attributed to Gerard Seghers’ Spanish period, or the years immediately after this period. Seghers’ period in Spain began in the summer of 1617 and probably ended in 1620; in the autumn of that year he was certainly in Antwerp. The stylistic elements of the present painting resemble those of firmly attributed works by the Flemish artist, such as the Louvre’s Saint Francis in Ecstasy comforted by Angels after receiving the Stigmata (see also the version with variants in the Koelliker collection in Milan), and the Christ after the Flagellation in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy, both of which can be dated to between the late 1610s and early 1620s (see D. Bieneck, Gerard Seghers 1591-1651, Lingen, 1992, and the exhibition catalogue of Gérard Seghers, un peintre flamand entre Maniérisme et Caravagisme, exhibition curated by A. Delvingt, Valenciennes, 2011).

The decisive element, according to Papi, confirming the attribution to Seghers comes from the existence of two engravings (by Ryckemans and Vorsterman), showing the image of the Christie’s canvas with the Lady of Sorrows, two Angels and the Symbols of the Passion (the first engraving shows every detail, while the second shows only the Virgin and the nails in the foreground). At lower centre of the first engraving, a text reads: “G. Seghers inve.” The two engravings have been published by Dorothea Bieneck, who noted them as traces of “ein verlorenes Gemälde Seghers” (D. Bieneck, op. cit., 1992, p. 182-183). Evidently she was not aware of the painting sold at Christie’s, New York. Papi links the engravings both to Christie’s Our Lady of Sorrows (which matches perfectly) and – thanks to the identical image of the Virgin – to the present work, in which the scene has been expanded to include the body of Christ. Papi consequently attributes both paintings to Gerard Seghers and dates them both to around 1620.

We are grateful to Gianni Papi for his help in cataloguing the present painting.

Provenance:
sale Galleria Geri, Milan 23rd November 1931, lot 42 (as attributed to Luca Cambiaso);
Private European collection

Literature:
G. Papi, Indagini sulla fase matura di Bartolomeo Cavarozzi, in: Arte cristiana, 807, 2001, p. 427–438 (as Bartolomeo Cavarozzi)

We are grateful to Gianni Papi for suggesting the attribution to Gerard Seghers on the basis of a high resolution digital photograph.

Papi originally published the present painting as an autograph work by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi in 2001 (see literature) and compared the present work with another painting including the Virgin - virtually identical in pose and in every detail – with two angels and the symbols of the Passion. This latter picture was sold at Christie’s, New York, 12th June 1981, lot 211 (oil on canvas, 152 x 100 cm), with an attribution to Cavarozzi.

Papi is now convinced that both pictures should in fact be attributed to Gerard Seghers’ Spanish period, or the years immediately after this period. Seghers’ period in Spain began in the summer of 1617 and probably ended in 1620; in the autumn of that year he was certainly in Antwerp. The stylistic elements of the present painting resemble those of firmly attributed works by the Flemish artist, such as the Louvre’s Saint Francis in Ecstasy comforted by Angels after receiving the Stigmata (see also the version with variants in the Koelliker collection in Milan), and the Christ after the Flagellation in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy, both of which can be dated to between the late 1610s and early 1620s (see D. Bieneck, Gerard Seghers 1591-1651, Lingen, 1992, and the exhibition catalogue of Gérard Seghers, un peintre flamand entre Maniérisme et Caravagisme, exhibition curated by A. Delvingt, Valenciennes, 2011).

The decisive element, according to Papi, confirming the attribution to Seghers comes from the existence of two engravings (by Ryckemans and Vorsterman), showing the image of the Christie’s canvas with the Lady of Sorrows, two Angels and the Symbols of the Passion (the first engraving shows every detail, while the second shows only the Virgin and the nails in the foreground). At lower centre of the first engraving, a text reads: “G. Seghers inve.” The two engravings have been published by Dorothea Bieneck, who noted them as traces of “ein verlorenes Gemälde Seghers” (D. Bieneck, op. cit., 1992, p. 182-183). Evidently she was not aware of the painting sold at Christie’s, New York. Papi links the engravings both to Christie’s Our Lady of Sorrows (which matches perfectly) and – thanks to the identical image of the Virgin – to the present work, in which the scene has been expanded to include the body of Christ. Papi consequently attributes both paintings to Gerard Seghers and dates them both to around 1620.

We are grateful to Gianni Papi for his help in cataloguing the present painting.