Follower of Hendrik van Balen ,circa 1650

Estimate

25,000 - 35,000 EUR

bidding is closed

Description

Hendrik van Balen
bathsheba receiving a letter announcing the death of her husband uriah's death, in an architectural capriccio with a sculpted fountain and a distant landscape
oil on alabaster laid down on slate

Provenance

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 2 December 1983, lot 72 (as Follower of Hans Rottenhammer), when bought by
Daan Cevat, London/Guernsey,
thence by descent to the present owner.

Catalogue Note

This beguiling picture has been linked with Hendrik van Balen, Jacques Stella (who used similar supports) and Hans Rottenhammer, but has hitherto defied any convincing attribution. The distant wooded landscape with its cool, luminous colouring, perhaps by another hand, appears to be Flemish, and may be by a landscapist of the Brussels School.