St. Martin Dividing His Cloak
Object type | Painting |
Genre | Religious |
Date | 1611 |
Dimensions | 20.5 x 33.5 cm |
Support | Copper |
Medium | Oil |
Signature | BRUEGHEL 1611 |
Our attribution | Jan Brueghel the Elder |
Other authorities | Ertz 2008-10, #310 Ertz 1979, #240 |
Location | Prague, Czech Republic |
Collection | Nelahozeves Castle, Lobkowicz Collection |
Tags | Preaching, Horse, House, Field, Burghers, Children, New Testament, Saint, Wagon |
Although Ertz 2008-10 lists this as still in Prague, it is not in their 2000 collection catalogue. A painting by Brueghel of the same subject with inventory #VO 1174, cat. #II/9, is listed among the works restituted or sold from the gallery's collections: Prague 2000, p. 411.
Bits of this composition reappear in a "way to market" scene sold London (Christie's May 14, 1965 lot #84). Another copy (less good) in Ertz 2008-10, cat. #312, on panel, 23 x 35.5. This could be a studio piece. Ertz, p.650, tries to call it a collaboration between Jan the Elder and Jan the Younger produced after 1620, which makes no sense at all. It is an absolutely exact replica of the present painting (240, in Prague) whereas the other better copy (Ertz 243) is a variant. It repeats the central crowd of figures, as if there was a pattern drawing for this cluster, but completely alters the landscape and the figures outside that main cluster. This is a perfect example of how the workshop must have operated and would be worth using in that context.
This work is similar to the Daniel at Milan in the range of peculiarly expressive faces--a real high point of Jan's caricatural style.
Note that there is also a drawing of this subject in Stockholm that was in Essen show, but it seems quite independent of any of these paintings, which is curious.