Lot 2035 Nα

This painting depicts the Lydian King Croesus in the centre of the image, surrounded by his court, using his sceptre to proudly display the treasures that are the source of his happiness. But standing next to him is the philosopher Solon who, as Herodotus records in his "Histories", warns him against this hubris, since no one can describe themselves as happy before the end of their life.
The painting was created in collaboration between Cornelis de Baellieur and Frans Francken the Younger, one of the most important small-figure painters of the Rubens period in Antwerp. It is a slightly amended version of Francken's painting of almost the same size in the possession of the Habsburg Archduke Leopold Wilhelm (1614-1662), housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (86.5 x 120 cm, inv. no. 1049). In this work, Frans Francken was responsible for painting the two protagonists Croesus and Solon and the page on the far right who pulls the curtain to the side, as well as some of the treasures. Cornelis de Bailleur, on the other hand - who was very familiar with the works of Frans Francken as his former apprentice - follows the above-mentioned model, but adds his own signature motif to the composition in the form of the greyhound in the lower left corner.