Jan Cossiers (Antwerp 1600-1671)

Born in Antwerp, where he was possibly a pupil of Cornelis de Vos, Cossiers was in Rome by circa 1623-1624, where he would have seen the work of Caravaggio and his followers, who were highly active there at the time. Certainly in terms of subject matter and composition, their influence can be seen in this previously unrecorded picture, which nevertheless is entirely characteristic of Cossiers' work. This composition and its variants were clearly popular: Nicolson lists another seven versions of it, although all with significant differences (B. Nicolson, Caravaggism in Europe, 1979, I, p. 99, nos. 1445-7).