Bacchus, Venus and Ceres - An Allegory of Autumn

Details

Abraham Govaerts (Antwerp 1589-1626) and Hendrik van Balen I (Antwerp 1574-1632)
Bacchus, Venus and Ceres - An Allegory of Autumn
signed 'H.V.BALEN' (lower centre)
oil on panel
24 3/8 x 38½ in. (61.9 x 97.8 cm.)

Provenance

J.J. Bachofen-Burckhardt, Basel, from 1824.
Anonymous sale; Galliera, Paris, 1 December 1972, lot 10.
with Galerie Müllenmeister, Solingen, 1982, from whom acquired by the present owner.

Literature

K. Ertz, Jan Breughel der Altere, Cologne, 1979, p. 535, footnote 612.
K. Ertz, Jan Breughel der Jüngere, Freren, 1984, p. 377, no. 211. U. Härting and K. Borms, Abraham Govaerts, Essen, 2003, p. 160, no. 164, illustrated.
B. Werche, Hendrick van Balen, Turnhout, 2004, I, p. 162, no. A73; II, p. 366, illustrated.

Special Notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis. Please note Payments and Collections will be unavailable on Monday 12th July 2010 due to a major update to the Client Accounting IT system. For further details please call +44 (0) 20 7839 9060 or e-mail info@christies.com

Brought to you by

Clemency Henty

chenty@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2541

Lot Essay

The landscape element of this high quality collaborative work was traditionally ascribed to Jan Breughel the Younger, and was published as such by Klaus Ertz in 1984 (loc. cit.). However, more recently, both Bettina Werche and Ursula Härting have attributed it to Abraham Govaerts, whose later style has close affinities with Jan Breughel the Elder. The success of this composition is attested to by two known derivations - a panel, said to be signed by Govaerts and dated 1624, last recorded in a sale at Sotheby's, London, 23 June 1937, lot 77 (see Härting, op. cit., pp. 84-5, no. 20, illustrated); and a copy in the Nationalgalerie, Prague (inv. X.429).

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