Lot 2036A Dα

A wealthy middle-class Antwerp family is shown here by a window, flanked on either side by a curtain and a column. The age of the children and the parents is indicated in small writing next to the figures: the girl is 10, the father is 40 and the mother is 38 years old, the boy's age is no longer legible. The letter that the boy boldly holds up is probably addressed to the head of the household: "Eersamen D(r?) / Peeter (Wil?) Coopman".
The rich clothing, jewellery and hairstyles of those depicted are typical of the fashion of the 1630s. The work is dated 1638 on the far right. The mother, with her millstone collar, is dressed more conservatively than her daughter. The parents sit on chairs with lion's head mascarons, the two children stand on the left in front of them. While the couple gaze lovingly at each other, the children seek eye contact with the viewer. The older daughter presents her parents with a bowl of cherries, from which her father takes a few and lets them slide into his wife's open hand. The cherries in the couple's artfully folded hands are the central motif of the pyramidal figure composition. As a symbol of fertility, they refer to the prosperous family.
The iconography and composition of this portrait of a Flemish bourgeois family is based on corresponding works by Cornelis de Vos. He was active in the first half of the 17th century at the same time as Rubens and Van Dyck and was after them the third most important portraitist in Antwerp. De Vos was the first to depict emotions in a family portrait. Emotional bonds are expressed through subtle gestures and symbols. A comparative example is de Vos' portrait of a married couple with their daughter, which was created around 1635/40, i.e. at the same time as the present painting (whereabouts unknown, see illustration in Katlijne van der Stighelen: De portretten van Cornelis de Vos, Brussels 1990, p. 219, cat. no. 96). The little girl standing between her parents gives her father a rose as a sign of parental love.
The present portrait of an Antwerp family was long considered a work by Cornelis de Vos, as there are close stylistic parallels to family portraits by this artist. De Vos was the first painter to adopt Van Dyck's compositional schemes. This is also noticeable in this picture. Van Dyck was the first to introduce the type of horizontal portrait into Antwerp painting, probably in order to show the subjects in a more natural pose. His portrait of an unknown couple in the Szépmüvészeti Múzeum in Budapest shows a seated couple in a comparable position: the man has put his arm protectively behind his wife, leaning his hand on her chair. The couple lovingly clasp their right hands in a symbolic gesture known as "dextrarium iunctio".
Hans Vlieghe, Nils Büttner and Katlijne van der Stighelen point out the close relationship to the works of Cornelis de Vos. The unknown Antwerp artist was clearly familiar with his works, as well as those of Anton van Dyck, and created a painting of remarkable artistic quality and charisma.