Cabinet Decorated with Episodes from the Lives of Christ and the Virgin

…; collection Ridder Joseph Désiré Primat Lupus de Wolf (1766-1822), Brussels; by whom offered to William I, King of the Netherlands, and purchased with other works from the collection, 1819; on display in the Musée Lupus, Brussels;¹¹C. Heesterbeek-Bert, ‘L’achat de la collection Lupus de Wolf et la formation d’une galerie Lupus au musée’, in M. Van Kalck (ed.), Les Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique: Deux Siècles d’histoire, vol. 1, Brussels 2003, pp. 153-55. received by the Koninklijk Kabinet van Zeldzaamheden, The Hague, 1823; transferred to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, 1875 (inv. no. 1014); transferred to the museum, 1883

ObjectNumber: BK-NM-1014

The present cabinet is decorated with painted scenes chiefly from the lives of Christ and the Virgin. On the central door is The Virgin and Child in Majesty, approx. 8.8 x 8.7 cm.²²L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, II (2) 1957, pp. 93-94. For the most part the treatment of the other subjects also falls unexceptionally within established tradition.

On the lid is The Flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:3-15), approx. 17.7 x 42 cm, with the customary Miracle of the Corn Field and Fall of the Idols in Egypt.³³L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, II (2) 1957, pp. 272, 280-81. On the interior of the wings are: left The Adoration of the Shepherds (Matthew 2:1-12, Luke 2:1-20),⁴⁴L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, II (2) 1957, pp. 233-36. approx. 25.5 x 19.7 cm, from which the ox and ass are absent while special prominence is given to the lamb, brought by one of the shepherds, referring to Christ’s future sacrifice as in the Adoration by Frans Floris (1519/1520-1570) in the Koninklijk Museum voor schone Kunsten, Antwerp;⁵⁵C. Van de Velde, Frans Floris (1519/20-1570). Leven en werken, Brussels 1975, fig. 101. right The Adoration of the Magi (Matthew 2:1-12),⁶⁶L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, II (2) 1957, pp. 236-44, 246-52. approx. 25.8 x 19.6 cm, where the presence of the ox is unusual but by no means unprecedented; noteworthy is St Joseph’s doffing of his cap out of respect for the Magi.⁷⁷L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, II (2) 1957, p. 247, note 4. On the drawers, top row from the left are: The Infant Christ in the Carpenter’s Shop, approx. 5.2 x 14.5 cm;⁸⁸L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, II (2), 1957, pp. 283-84, III (1), pp. 756-58. The Coronation of the Virgin, approx. 5 x 14.7 cm;⁹⁹L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, II (2), 1957, pp. 621-25. and The Apparition of Christ to his Mother, approx. 4.7 x 14.6 cm.¹⁰¹⁰L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, II (2), 1957, pp. 554-56. On the second row, from the left, are: The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, approx. 4.8 x 14.5 cm,¹¹¹¹L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, III (1), 1958, pp. 268-69, of no. A. and The Visitation (Luke 1:39-40), approx. 4.8 x 14.5 cm.¹²¹²L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, II (2), 1957, pp. 195-96, 198. On the third row, from the left, are: The Infants Jesus and John the Baptist, approx. 5 x 14.5 cm¹³¹³L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, II (1), 1956, p. 438. and The Education of the Virgin, approx. 4.8 x 14.5 cm.¹⁴¹⁴L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, II (2), 1957, pp. 168-69. On the bottom row, from the left are: The Annunciation (Luke 1:26-36), approx. 4.7 x 14.5 cm;¹⁵¹⁵L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, II (2), 1957, pp. 174-76. The Return of the Holy Family from Jerusalem (Luke 2:51), approx. 5 x 14.7 cm;¹⁶¹⁶L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, II (2), 1957, pp. 291-92. Described in the 1976 museum catalogue as Mary and Joseph with Jesus on the way to the Temple (Luke : 2 :42), a subject not specifically mentioned by Réau. For a discussion of the depiction of the return from the Temple as opposed to the return from Egypt, see H. Devisscher and H. Vlieghe, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, V(1): The Life of Christ before the Passion: The Youth of Christ, 2 vols., London 2014, I, under no. 57. and The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, approx. 4.7 x 14.5 cm.¹⁷¹⁷L. Réau, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, 3 vols., Paris 1955-59, II (2), 1957, pp. 164-65. As in the case of Frans Francken II’s (1581-1642) treatment of the latter subject of 1640,¹⁸¹⁸U. Härting, Frans Francken der Jüngere (1581-1642): Die Gemälde mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog, Freren 1989, p. 299, no. 243. the Virgin is shown within the Temple, and not mounting the fifteen steps up to it.

The selection of subjects seems incoherent, as The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine is relevant neither to the life of Christ nor to that of the Virgin. Maybe the selection was made from a group of religious subjects available in a workshop, with The Mystic Marriage being included for the want of any others depicting the lives of Christ and the Virgin.

Assuming that the lid is integral, it can be surmised that there was another problem connected with the supply of appropriate subjects, and that the stock of another artist was exploited to make good a shortage. The Flight into Egypt is executed more competently than, and in a different manner from, the other scenes. The latter are rendered so poorly that it is unlikely that this painter could be identified; but it is no more than tempting to associate the handling of The Flight into Egypt with Guillam Forchondt (1608-1678) as his signed oeuvre does not warrant this.¹⁹¹⁹E. Duverger, ‘Zeventiende-eeuwse schilderijen met de signatuur van Gilliam en Guillielmo Forchondt uit Antwerpen’, Bulletin Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België 38-40 (1989-91), pp. 303-15, esp. nos. 1-3, pp. 310-11, figs. 4-6; for details of his life, see pp. 306-07. Forchondt became a master in the Antwerp guild of St Luke in 1632/33, and was to play an important role in the production of painted cabinets (kunstkastjes), see R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: typologische en historische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 53, Brussels 1991, no. 53, pp. 114-32. His painted oeuvre remains obscure. J. de Maere and M. Wabbes, Illustrated Dictionary of 17th Century Flemish Painters, 3 vols., Brussels 1994, II, p. 417, top, reproduce a signed work in which the facial types along with those in the Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Duverger 1989, fig. 4, are not unlike those in the Flight into Egypt under consideration; the treatment of the landscape also compares. But the attribution is not accepted by Sandra van Ginhoven; judging from the reproduction in the 1976 catalogue, she stated: ‘The Flight into Egypt could have been produced in his (Forchondt’s) workshop, but I do not see Forchondt in the figures.’ E-mail kindly written to the compiler, 25 October 2015. Neither hand has as yet been found to have worked on the decorations of other cabinets, and the matter is further complicated by the inscription on the reverse of the lid.

Lunsingh Scheurleer²⁰²⁰T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Catalogus van meubelen en betimmeringen, Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1952, p. 180 under no. 137. drew attention to the name ‘Francoys’ ‘signed on the rear of one of the panels’; in fact, he was referring to the inscription on the reverse of the lid. Fabri and Baarsen²¹²¹R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: kunsthistorische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 57, Brussels 1993, pp. 111-12; R. Baarsen, 17th-Century Cabinets, translated by J. Rudge, Amsterdam/Zwolle 2000, p. 25. have disputed his contention that it is the signature of the artist responsible for the painted scenes. Fabri believes that it may have been inscribed by the entrepreneur responsible for the production of the cabinet and was indeed the name of the artist who had been commissioned; if this was the case, it would presumably be the name of the artist who painted the lid. At all events, she was unable to identify the ‘cantoorschilder’ (specialist painter of scenes decorating cabinets). No similar inscription has been recorded on other cabinets and its raison d’être must remain hypothetical.

Baarsen has suggested a probable date of 1625-50 for the creation of the cabinet.²²²²R. Baarsen, 17th-Century Cabinets, translated by J. Rudge, Amsterdam/Zwolle 2000, p. 25, but see the caption to his fig. 28. Baarsen gives no reason for this dating. No precise prototype for any of the compositions has been identified, but three may owe their inspiration to prints after compositions by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Two by Schelte Adamsz Bolswert (1584/1588-1659) – of the Education of the Virgin²³²³D. Bodart, Rubens e l’incisione nelle collezione del Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampa, exh. cat. Rome (Villa della Farnesina alla Lungara) 1977, no. 64; for the prototype see R. Oldenbourg, P.P. Rubens: Des Meisters Gemälde: in 538 Abbildungen (Klassiker der Kunst V), Stuttgart/Berlin 1921, p. 338. and the Return of the Holy Family from Jerusalem²⁴²⁴D. Bodart, Rubens e l’incisione nelle collezione del Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampa, exh. cat. Rome (Villa della Farnesina alla Lungara) 1977, no. 43; see also H. Devisscher and H. Vlieghe, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, V(1): The Life of Christ before the Passion: The Youth of Christ, 2 vols., London 2014, I, pp. 259-62, no. 57, II, fig. 202. – were published by Martinus van den Enden (active 1630-c. 1643/1645),²⁵²⁵See most recently C. Kleinert, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and his Landscapes: Ideas on Nature and Art, Turnhout 2014, pp. 71-72, 149. while the third The Infants Jesus and John the Baptist was made into a woodcut by Cristoffel Jegher (1596-1652/1653), whose association with Rubens began in 1633.²⁶²⁶See P. Krüger in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, 34 vols., Basingstoke 1996, XVII, p. 470 under Jegher (1). Thus a date from not long after 1633 for these scenes and the others painted by the same hand would seem likely. Very probably The Flight into Egypt was painted about the same time.

Gregory Martin, 2022

Editor's note: the museum's photograph dates from before 2006. Since then, the order of the drawers has been changed, restoring the original layout. A new photograph will be made.

R. Fabri, De 17de-eeuwse Antwerpse Kunstkast: kunsthistorische aspecten. Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België, Klasse der Schone Kunsten van België 57, Brussels 1993, pp. 111-12 and note 437; R. Baarsen, 17th-Century Cabinets, translated by J. Rudge, Amsterdam/Zwolle 2000, p. 25 and figs. 28-30

1952 (Meubelen), no. 137; 1976, pp. 693-94, no. NM 1014 (Antwerp School, first half 17th century)

G. Martin, 2022, 'anonymous, Cabinet Decorated with Episodes from the Lives of Christ and the Virgin, Antwerp, c. 1635', in Flemish Paintings in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.56090