FRIEDRICH BRENTEL | ABIGAIL BEFORE KING DAVID

Sale, London, Christie's, 13 November 1973, lot 57;

sale, Geneva, Sotheby's, 16 November 1993, lot 3

Friedrich Brentel trained as an engraver, but became one of the most important painters, draughtsmen and printmakers working in 17th-Century Strasbourg. With the help of a successful workshop and his most famous pupil, Johann Wilhelm Baur (see the previous lot, and also lot 1), Brentel established the city as the leading European centre for the painting of miniatures in the early decades of the 17th Century. While he did produce many gouaches with his own compositions, Brentel also made numerous miniature replicas of paintings or prints by contemporary artists such as Bruegel, Rubens and Van Dyck.

This is a fine example of one of the artist's miniature gouaches with its rich palette of colors and acute attention to detail. Friedrich Brentel has illustrated the biblical subject, Abigail before King David, and has perfectly captured the scene by optimising the various spatial planes to stage a convincing setting.

See note to lot 1 for more information on Dr Erika Pohl-Ströher.