ABRAHAM GOVAERTS (ANTWERP 1589-1626)

The landscape in this painting follows verbatim that of two paintings by Jan Brueghel I, one of which is today in a German private collection and the other of which was sold Christie's, London, 12 December 1986, lot 3 (see K. Ertz and C. Nitze-Ertz, op. cit., pp. 533-537, nos. 244 and 245). Jan II treated the subject in at least one further example, which was formerly on the London art market (see K. Ertz, Jan Breughel der Jüngere (1601-1678): Die Gemälde mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog, I, Freren, 1984, pp. 314-315, no. 147). The figures of the Virgin and Child differ slightly in the present painting from the other known examples.

More recently, Ursula Härtung and Kathleen Borms have suggested an attribution to Abraham Govaerts for this and five similar paintings (loc. cit.). The figures of the Virgin and Child appear to be by an as-yet unidentified hand.