Quality in Detail. The Juli and Andrew Wieg Collection
Quality in Detail. The Juli and Andrew Wieg Collection
The Foretelling of the Birth of Samson to Manoa and his wife
Lot Closed
March 24, 03:23 PM GMT
Estimate
4,000 - 6,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Jan Linsen
Hoorn 1602/3 - 1635
The Foretelling of the Birth of Samson to Manoa and his wife
oil on oak panel
unframed: 38.7 x 57.5 cm.; 15 1/4 x 22 5/8 in.
framed: 56 x 74.5 cm.; 18 1/8 x 29 3/8 in.
The tumultuous short life of Jan Linsen is mainly known through a handful of colourful anecdotes narrated by Arnold Houbraken. Born in Hoorn, Linsen travelled to France and Italy, where he joined the Bentvueghels (a group of Dutch and Flemish artists living in Rome) with the nickname of Hermafrodito. On his journey back to Hoorn, some Moorish pirates assaulted his ship, and he was left naked on the North African coast, his life only saved by the payment of a ransom from his guild. When finally back in Hoorn, he died at the hand of a friend, resentful after a loss at cards.
Linsen's corpus mainly consists of historical, mythological, and religious scenes in wide landscape settings. The subject of the present work comes from the Old Testament, Judges 13, and depicts the angel announcing the forthcoming birth of Samson to Manoa and his wife. The figures, on the left-hand side of the painting, appear secondary to the landscape, however, which is dominated instead by fantastical ruins.