Lot 51 D α

J. Müller-Hofstede attributed this panel to Ruben's pupil Willem Panneels. The work is closely based on the almost identically sized Rubens oil sketch of 1627/28 now kept in the Gemäldegalerie Berlin under the inventory no. 780. Rubens created this design in preparation for his work on the panel for the high altar of the Augustinian Church in Antwerp which is now kept in the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Panneels was taught by Rubens from 1623 to 1628, around the time the sketch was made. He became a master of the Antwerp guild of St. Luke in 1628 and moved to Cologne two years later.