Live Auction 20684Old Masters Part II
VICTOR WOLFVOET II (ANTWERP 1612-1652)
Lot 116 PROPERTY FROM A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION

VICTOR WOLFVOET II (ANTWERP 1612-1652)

The Daughters of Cecrops discovering the infant Erichthonius

Closed7 July 2023

Price Realised

GBP 7,560

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VICTOR WOLFVOET II (ANTWERP 1612-1652)
The Daughters of Cecrops discovering the infant Erichthonius
9 ¾ x 13 in. (24.9 x 33 cm.)
oil on panel, the reverse stamped with the panel maker's mark of Guilliam Gabron (active 1609-1662)

Anonymous sale; Bonham's, London, 10 April 2013, lot 128, as 'After Sir Peter Paul Rubens, 18th Century'.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 30 October 2014, lot 89.

Specialist note


This painting is likely a copy after a lost modello by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, executed in preparation for a large canvas of the same subject which was briefly owned by the second Duke of Richelieu (1629-1715), a fragment of which is preserved in the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin, Ohio.

As recounted by Ovid in Book II of the Metamorphoses, the daughters of Cecrops, King of Attica, had been entrusted by Athena with a basket they were told not to open. Disobeying her instructions, the daughters were horrified to find Erichthonius inside, the snake-tailed infant son of Vulcan and Gaia.