Jacques d'Arthois

Reputedly in the Collection of Louis-Philippe, in one of his private residences;
Private Collection, France;
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 9 July 1998, lot 27;
Art market, Madrid, where acquired by the present owner.

A fine craquelure is visible throughout. The canvas is lined, the varnish is patchy and somewhat discoloured. Visible under UV light are a few old, well restored damages; the most significant of which is a web of tears in the centre of the sky which covers an area of approx. 6 by 6 inches. There are other smaller scattered restored old tears and some retouchings throughout. In fair condition for a canvas of this size.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This highly unusual subject is taken from the Chronicon Helveticum written by Aegidius Tschudi (1505-72) and is again recounted in Monita et exempla politica by Justus Lipsius (1547-1606). Whilst out hunting, Graf Rudolf von Habsburg (1270-1314) comes across a priest taking the viaticum to the dying, and in a show of piety hands over his horse for the priest to use.

The subject is known in two other notable pictures. The first, a collaborative work by Rubens and Jan Wildens, dating to the mid 1620s, is now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid.¹ The second, which is much closer to the present picture, is in the Gemäldegalerie in Vienna (inv. no. 3692).² The figures in the Vienna picture are by González Coques, as may be the case here. It has also been suggested that the figures kneeling beside the path in the foreground are portraits of the patron's family members.

Marijke de Kinkelder, former curator at The Netherlands Institute for Art History, proposed the attribution to d'Arthois in 1998 on the basis of photographs, dating it tentatively to the 1650s.

1. Oil on canvas, 198 x 283 cm. See E. McGrath, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard XIII: Subjects from History, vol. 2, London 1997, pp. 311-17, cat. no. 56, reproduced vol. I, figs 214 and 215 (detail).
2. Oil on canvas, 108.5 x 138.5 cm. See p. 44, S. Ferino-Pagden et al. (eds.) Die Gemäldegalerie des Kunsthistorischen Museums in Wien: Verzeichnis der Gemälde, Vienna 1991, reproduced plate 459.