Hendrick van Balen the Elder, Jan Brueghel the Elder

Königliches Museum, Dresden, 1745-1859;
Anonymous sale, Berlin, Rudolph Lepke, 30 April 1929, lot 52;
Anonymous sale, Prague, Hugo Feigla, 13-14 December 1935, lot 4;
Norris;
Anonymous sale, New York, American Art Association, 28 April 1938, lot 31;
Possibly London, Sotheby's, 21 March 1973, lot 69 (as Hendrik van Balen);
Gerald E. Landweer, Beverly Hills and Vancouver;
With Doyle Galleries, New York.

H. Bardon, Le festin des Dieux. Essai sur l'humanistme dans les arts plastiques, Paris 1960, p. 34 (as Rottenhammer);
Alte Pinakothek, München, Deutsche und niederländische Malerei zwischen Renaissance und Barock, Munich 1961, p. 11, cat. no. 848;
I. Jost, "Hendrick van Balen d.Ä. Versuch einer Chronologie der Werke aus den ersten zwei Jahrzehten des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Kabinettbilder," Nederlands Kunshistorisch Jaarboek, 14, 1963, pp. 99-102, reproduced fig. 72;
K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel d. Ä., Cologne 1979, p. 618, cat. no. 360;
B. Werche, Hendrick van Balen (1575-1632): Ein Antwerpener Kabinettbildmaler der Rubenszeit, Turnhout 2004, vol. I, pp. 184-185, cat. no, A. 121, reproduced vol. II, p. 403;
K. Ertz and C. Nitze Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere, Lingen 2008, vol. II, pp. 824-825, reproduced p. 823.

The following condition report has been provided by Kirsten Younger of Kirsten Younger Paintings Restoration, 212-288-4370, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The painting is in good condition overall. The panel support is made of three pieces of wood with horizontal joins and it is supported with a cradle. There is a crack two inches from the bottom of the panel that extends in about 18 inches from the left edge. The paint layer is very well preserved overall including the finely painted details of the faces, the still life elements, the draperies and the landscape. There are some small areas of paint loss that have been filled and areas that have been retouched over the varnish fluoresce dark. These are on the red drapery of the man seated at the table, in the orange drapery of the woman standing behind him, across the chest of the woman playing the flute, in the background around the helmet with the feathers, at the top edge of the sky, along the repaired crack in the lower left corner, and in the wreath of flowers. The paint is slightly raised along the edges of the cracks in some areas. The thick varnish layer fluoresces opaque yellow green in ultra violet light and is slightly discolored. The surface of the varnish has an even sprayed texture overall.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Apart from the addition of Calliope playing Apollo's lyre in the left foreground, this lively portrayal of the Feast of the Gods, datable to circa 1616-1620, closely relates to a later variant, datable to circa 1620, of the same subject in the Staatsgalerie Neuburg an der Donau, Germany (inv. no. 848).¹  

1. K. Ertz and C. Nitze Ertz, in Literature, p. 822, cat. no. 410, reproduced p. 821.