Marcellus Coffermans

In the family collection of the present owner for at least two generations.

M. Díaz Padrón, "Identificación de algunas pinturas de Marcelus Coffermans," in Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België. Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique Bulletin, 30-33, 1-3, 1986, pp. 58-9, reproduced fig. 32.

The following condition report is provided by Rebecca Gregg who is an independent specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. The painting is in a relatively good condition. The panel support is constructed of three members, with inserted butterfly keys along the re-opened joins at the reverse. Strips of glued canvas have been attached to the reverse of the panel joins. There is an area of wild wood in the upper half of the right panel member (recto). Viewed from the front the right panel member has been re-joined with a significant step in planar alignment, this has been filled during a previous restoration campaign. The continuing movement and therefore instability of this join is indicated by the very small losses along the lower half, and the two recent losses at the lower edge. The left panel join remains stable. The paint layers are in a relatively good condition, there are losses along the lower edge and along the left edge, probably as a result of framing damage. These appear relatively recent and have not been retouched. There are tiny losses present, predominantly across the left half, these remain untouched. There are not visually disturbing. There are minor mechanical damages present across the figure of the Christ child and Our Lady; these are predominantly across the hands and feet of Christ and the left hand and neck of his mother. These thin scratches have not resulted in any significant loss to the paint and ground layers. The deep glazes in the male saints robe and in the hanging cloth behind Our Lady show areas of slight surface disruption, caused by natural aging of the medium rich glazes. There are minor losses scattered throughout the composition, the majority of these have been retouched. There appears to have been at least two distinct campaigns of over-paint remaining from previous restoration campaigns. This is very clear when the painting is examined in ultra violet light. The upper and more recent series of retouching does not fluoresces and appears to be restricted to small brushstrokes while the earlier campaign appears in many areas to be excessive and to cover original paint. This older campaign of over-paint is present in the flesh tones, most noticeably on the face and forehead of the male saint. The delicate handling of the original paint at the hairline and upper forehead is clear; however the forehead has then been covered with a thick disproportionately large layer, yet there is a consistent craqulure pattern showing from beneath which belies the need to cover the area. There is a discoloured varnish layer present and a significant layer of surface dirt.
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It seems almost certain, as Díaz Padrón has argued,¹ that Marcellus Coffermans established a strong market between his studio and numerous clients in Spain, there being a plethora of works by him both previously recorded there and still in existence in Spanish public institutions and private collections today. The appeal of Flemish painting to the Spanish in the 16^th century is well-known but Coffermans must have gone to greater lengths than most to establish an export process between his studio and dealers on the Iberian peninsula. Certainly, his devotional paintings such as this responded well to the pious demands of his potential clients there.

The present painting was almost certainly one such work painted by Coffermans for a Spanish client and it has probably remained in Spain ever since. The composition itself clearly won great appeal in Spain as there are examples by the artist, usually with differences limited only to the background and colour of the clothing, in the Descalzas Reales, the Carmelitas de Salamanca, the Hospital de Medina del Campo, the parochial church of Elgueta and the Martínez Colon collection in the Puerto de Santa María de Cadiz, to name but a few.² As Díaz Padrón says, the present version ranks as one of the very best amongst the numerous versions now dispersed the world over.

1. Díaz Padrón, op. cit.
2. For the latter, see Ibid., p. 59, fig. 34.