Lot 1047 Rα

Various oil paintings with the character of studies are known with which the present painting can be compared: in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Gent (Studies to Abrahman Grapheus), in the Karlsruhe State Museum (two heads, possibly apostles), in the Prado in Madried (Three Musicians) or in the Institute of Arts, Detroit (study for the head of Abraham Grapheus). Our picture has been passed down as “Apostle Heads,” although there are no attributes at all which identify the heads as apostles.
Rubens, in anti-reformation Antwerp, created a new, monumental typology of apostle pictures related to Roman baroque painting. Van Dyck and Jordaens were familiar with Rubens' apostles (R. A. d'Hulst, p. 92), which for von Van Dyck was not without consequences. Also not for Jordaens, although his preoccupation with the subject has until yet not been so thoroughly studied. D'Hulst dates a series of four paintings each with three apostles in three-quarter pose circa 1630, whereby he also sees workshop participation (today in the Lille Museum). In addition to this, in the eighteenth century the apostles Peter and Paul, painted by Jordaens, were found in the Church of the Sisters of Leliendael in Mechlin (J. B. Decamps: Voyage pittoresque de la Flandre et fu Brabant, Paris 1789, d'Hulst p. 97). Further apostles appear in a number of large compositions with Biblical content. Particularly worthy of attention is the similarity of our apostles with the “Calling of Peter” from the Church of St. Jacob in Antwerp, where the strong sun light accentuates Peter and Paul, portrayed as bearded, white-haired old men, from the remaining figures.