Circle of Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen, Westphalia 1577-1640 Antwerp)

This painting is one of at least three painted versions of a Rubens composition dated 1614 in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. As with the other known variants, the artist here has depicted a deeply receding landscape in the left side of the composition, a detail that is lacking in Rubens' original. The present painting was assuredly executed during Rubens' lifetime on the basis of the panel maker's mark of Lambrecht Steens on the reverse of the panel. In contrast to the prime version, this work includes additional still life elements at lower left, which likewise appear in the version sold at Christie's, New York, 4 October 1996, lot 134, as well as the figure of Saint John the Evangelist found in the version in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, which was painted out in the example sold in 1996.