Ambrosius Francken the Elder

Commissioned for the altarpiece of the guild of the Antwerp bakers and millers in the Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp, 1598;

Thereafter in situ until at least the mid-17th century and up to 1710 when the altarpiece was refurbished and the wings were dismantled;

Private collection, Belgium;

Aristocratic collection, North Brabant, The Netherlands, probably for at least a century;

Thence by descent to the present owner.

J. Vervaet, Catalogus van de altaarstukken van gilden en ambachten uit de Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk van Antwerpen en bewaard in het Koninklijk Museum, Antwerp 1976, p. 227 (as current whereabouts unknown);

F. Baudouin and P. Huvenne, 'Schilderkunst na de val van Antwerpen (1585)', in Openbaar Kunstbezit in Vlaanderen, 23, 1985, p. 148 (as current whereabouts unknown);

Y. Morel-Deckers, E. Vandamme, P. Vandenbroeck, J. Vervaet and L. Wuyts, Catalogus schilderkunst oude meesters, Antwerp 1988, p. 142, under no. 135 (as current whereabouts unknown);

N. Peeters, Tussen continuïteit en vernieuwing. De bijdrage van Frans en Ambrosius Francken I, en de jonge generatie Francken, tot de historieschilderkunst te Antwerpen ca 1570–1620, unpublished PhD Thesis, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels 2000, no. 15b, reproduced fig. 128 (as dimensions and current whereabouts unknown);

N. Peeters and J. Cools, De Franckens in Herentals: het schildersgeslacht Francken in de Sint-Waldetrudiskerk te Herentals, Herentals 2018, p. 31, reproduced (as workshop of the Francken family from a black and white image, an opinion subsequently revised upon seeing a high resolution image of the work).