FRANS FRANCKEN THE YOUNGER | SAINT VERONICA HOLDING OUT HER VEIL TO CHRIST ON THE ROAD TO CALVARY

With Pfefferle, Munich, 1869 (according to a red wax seal on the reverse);

Martin Haller (1835–1925), Hamburg;

Osswald collection, Hamburg, and by descent;

Ilse Fabarius, Hamburg;

From whom inherited or acquired for a private collection, Hamburg in circa 1950;

Thence by inheritance.

U. Härting, Frans Francken der Jüngere. Die Gemälde mit kritischem Œuvrekatalog, Freren 1989, p. 286, cat. no. 204, reproduced.

Francken clearly favoured this subject, which can be found in at least a dozen of his existing works. Many of these, as here, concentrate on the moment when Veronica comes forward, taking her veil to wipe the face of Christ as He bears the cross to Calvary. This painting, which is preserved in almost perfect condition, is dated by Ursula Härting to between 1618 and 1621.

Martin Haller (1835–1925) was a leading architect in Hamburg, where a number of significant landmarks designed by him still stand, including the Rathaus, the HAPAG building on the Binnenalster, and the Afrikahaus. This painting passed to his widow, who also died in 1925, and thence by inheritance and marriage through various Hamburg collections to the present owner.