Jan Brueghel the Elder

(Brussels 1568-1625 Antwerp)

and Hendrick van Balen (Antwerp 1573-1632)

The Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist and Saint Elizabeth, within a garland of flowers

Footnotes

Provenance
The Collection of Marcus Kappel (1839-1919), Berlin (presumably acquired between 1914 and 1919)
Sale, Cassirer und Helbing, Berlin, 25 November, 1930, lot 1 (unsold)
Sale, Sotheby's, London, 16 March 1966, lot 48
With Richard Green, 1966, where acquired by the late owner 

Literature
K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere (1568-1625), Cologne, 1979, p. 309, ill. p. 311, and p. 593, cat. no. 213

In his entry for this lot, Ertz suggests a dating of 1609-1616 for the present work. He compares it to the flowers of Jan Brueghel's garland painting now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid (inv. no. 1417), the central composition of which is now considered to be by Giulio Cesare Procaccini (1574 – 1625).

Ertz cites an almost identically-sized panel with a very similar garland composition was with Leonard Koetser, London, in 1969 (oil on panel, 57.9 x 49.8cm.), similarly with the central image, also by van Balen, contained within a rectangle. Whilst Ertz includes both the present painting and the Leonard Koetser work in his catalogue for Jan Brueghel the Elder, he speculates in the wider text that there is a possibility that they are the product of a collaboration between the young Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601-1678) and Hendrick van Balen (see Literature, p. 309). However, he does note that he has seen neither work in the flesh.

Offered as lot 1 in the sale of the property from the late collector Marcus Kappel (1839-1919) in Berlin in 1930, the present The Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist and Saint Elizabeth, within a garland of flowers does not appear to be included in Willem von Bode's catalogue of Kappel's collection, published in 1914, so it can be assumed that the work entered his collection at some point between 1914 and his death in 1919.

All known provenance for this lot based on research undertaken is set out in the listed provenance. It does not appear on any current list of missing works sought for restitution and is offered for sale with a certificate from the Art Loss Register.