- 23
Jan Brueghel the Younger Antwerp 1601-1678 and Hendrick van Balen Antwerp 1575-1632
Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 GBP
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Description
- A bacchanal with Ceres, Bacchus and Venus
- signed lower left: HV. BALEN
- oil on oak panel, stamped on the reverse with the coat-of-arms of the City of Antwerp and the panelmaker's mark of Michael Vrient (see fig. 1)
Provenance
With Daniel van Heuvel, Brussels, 1928;
From whom acquired by Baron Evence Coppée III (1882-1945), Brussels;
Thence by descent until sold, 'A Selection of Paintings from the Coppée Collection, Brussels', London, Phillips, 8 December 1992, lot 47;
With Noortman Master Paintings, London, 1993.
From whom acquired by Baron Evence Coppée III (1882-1945), Brussels;
Thence by descent until sold, 'A Selection of Paintings from the Coppée Collection, Brussels', London, Phillips, 8 December 1992, lot 47;
With Noortman Master Paintings, London, 1993.
Exhibited
London, Noortman Master Paintings, Dutch and Flemish Old Master Paintings, 1993, no. 2.
Literature
F.C. Légrand, Les Peintres Flamands de Genre du XVII Siècle, Paris/Brussels 1968, p. 20;
S. Leclercq, La Collection Coppée, 1991, p. 78, reproduced p. 79;
B. Werke, Hendrick van Balen. ein Antwerpener Kabinettbildmaler der Rubenszeit, Turnhout 2004, vol. I, p. 158, cat. no. A63, vol. II, reproduced p. 358 (as whereabouts unknown).
S. Leclercq, La Collection Coppée, 1991, p. 78, reproduced p. 79;
B. Werke, Hendrick van Balen. ein Antwerpener Kabinettbildmaler der Rubenszeit, Turnhout 2004, vol. I, p. 158, cat. no. A63, vol. II, reproduced p. 358 (as whereabouts unknown).
Catalogue Note
Although this painting's pre-twentieth century provenance remains unknown, it spent much of the last century in the highly esteemed Coppée collection in Belgium where it had for company works by the greatest Flemish painters of the 16th century, including Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Jan Brueghel the Elder and Pieter Brueghel the Younger. The collection contained eleven paintings by Jan Brueghel II, including three collaborations with Hendrick van Balen (for the other two see B. Werche, under Literature, vol. I, pp. 150, 189, nos. A42 and A132, both reproduced vol. II, p. 344, 413). Van Balen had previously executed the figures in several works by Jan Brueghel I but after the latter's sudden death in 1625 it was inevitable that Van Balen would form a union with Brueghel's son. The majority of their subsequent collaborative works can be dated between 1626-1634.
As with this painting, which he purchased in 1928 (see Provenance), the second Baron Coppée, Evence III, acquired the majority of the collection in Brussels in the 1920s. The collection however had its roots in the nineteenth century when Evence III's father, Evence II, bought his first seven paintings in Karlsbad. The Coppée fortune was made in the mid-nineteenth century when Evence I invented a system and special kiln for the production of coke and by the end of the century there were reportedly 25,000 'Coppée' kilns in use worldwide. The collection was dispersed by Evence IV in 1992.
As with this painting, which he purchased in 1928 (see Provenance), the second Baron Coppée, Evence III, acquired the majority of the collection in Brussels in the 1920s. The collection however had its roots in the nineteenth century when Evence III's father, Evence II, bought his first seven paintings in Karlsbad. The Coppée fortune was made in the mid-nineteenth century when Evence I invented a system and special kiln for the production of coke and by the end of the century there were reportedly 25,000 'Coppée' kilns in use worldwide. The collection was dispersed by Evence IV in 1992.