Lot 2025 Dα

Adriaen van Stalbemt was born in Antwerp in 1580, twelve years after Jan Brueghel the Elder left his artistic mark on the city. Stalbemt's parents were members of the Reformed church, so they left their son's home town of Antwerp in 1585 when it was conquered by Spain. They moved to Middelburg, which was the artistic centre for non-Catholic artists in Flanders at the time. Stalbemt returned to Antwerp in 1609 and joined the Guild of Saint Luke, thus becoming a member of the influential circle of artists active in the city. They included Jan and Pieter Brueghel, Frans Francken, Gillis van Coninxloo, but also Peter Paul Rubens.
The majority of Stalbemt's works consist of landscapes enlivened with numerous figures and architecture. They depict the daily lives and business of people at the time, often weaving in veiled historical, political or sociological allusions, which make his pictures particularly fascinating. The present work depicts a scene taking place at the foot of a towering post mill. We see a group of thieves carrying out an attack on a caravan of covered wagons. On the left, the bandits are already dividing up the spoils whilst their comrades continue their violent work on the right.
Ertz and Nitze-Ertz both date this work to around 1610-1620, the second decade of the 17th century.