Estimate

35.000 - 50.000

Session 1

25 March 2026

Hammer Price

Description

Oil on canvas

73×99 cm

Additional Information

Abraham Bloemaert (Gorinchem, 1566 – Utrecht, 1651) was a central figure in Dutch painting between the late 16th and mid-17th centuries. Son of the sculptor and architect Cornelis I Bloemaert, he trained in Paris between c. 1581 and 1585, where he absorbed the Mannerism of the School of Fontainebleau. In 1593 he returned to Utrecht, where he settled permanently, becoming the city's most important painter and one of the most influential masters of his time.\n\nIn the early phase of his career, Bloemaert was one of the principal exponents of Mannerism in the Northern Netherlands, with dense compositions and expressive anatomies that reveal the direct influence of Bartholomeus Spranger — the reason why the present painting was originally attributed to this artist. From c. 1610, his style evolved towards a more classicising approach and, in the 1620s, he began to integrate elements from Caravaggio's painting. Bloemaert's work is represented in collections such as the National Gallery in London, the Alte Pinakothek in Munich and the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen.\n\nThe present composition is catalogued by Marcel Roethlisberger in the artist's catalogue raisonné (Abraham Bloemaert and his Sons, Doornspijk, 1993, no. 17) and probably dates from the early Mannerist period, c. 1592–1595.

Provenance:
Randall Davies, before 1929 (as 'Spranger');\nSotheby's, London, 10 February 1947, lot 154;\nArcade Gallery, London;\nDr. Theodore Heinrich, Toronto, before 1951;\nChristie's, London, 2 December 1983, lot 65;\nChristie's, London, Old Master & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings & Watercolours (Day Sale), 8 December 2010, lot 130

Exhibitions:
Santa Barbara, Califórnia, Museum of Art, 1951.

Literature:
E.J. Sluijter, De "Heydensche fabulen" in de Noordnederlandse Schilderkunst circa 1590–1670, Amesterdão, 1986, pp. 24–26 (repr.); M. Roethlisberger, Abraham Bloemaert and his Sons, Doornspijk, 1993, p. 69, n.º 17, fig. 40.