Peter Paul Rubens, studio of
THE RETURN OF THE HOLY FAMILY FROM EGYPT
Oil on cavans, transferred from panel. 259 x 177 cm.
This painting was part of the highly important decoration of the Antwerp Jesuit church for which Peter Paul Rubens received the commission in 1620. The commission included 39 ceiling paintings for the vaults of the side naves, two large paintings for the high altars (“The Miracle of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and of Saint Francis Xavier”), an “Assumption” for the Chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary as well as the present painting for an altar in the right hand nave. Whereas the ceiling paintings were destroyed during a fire in 1717, the altar paintings remained undamaged and are today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
The “Return of the Holy Family from Egypt” was donated by the mayor of Antwerp Nicolas Rockox, a close friend of Rubens´ and was placed on the altar dedicated to Saint Joseph in the right hand nave. After the dissolution of the Jesuit College on 20 May 1777 the work was auctioned and became part of a private collection, and later of the Metropolitan Museum, New York.
The painting is documented through an engraving by Schelte à Bolswert who worked for Rubens and which bears the inscription “P. P. Rubens pinxit - S. à Bolswert fecit".
Certificate
Justus Müller-Hofstede, Bonn, 11.8.1999 (as Rubens). - Aernout Balis, Antwerpen, letter dated 15.11.2002 (as Rubens and workshop). - Nico van Hout, Antwerpen, letter dated 23.12.2002 (as workshop of Rubens). - Gerlinde de Beer, Hamburg, 10.11.2003 (as Rubens and workshop).
Provenance
1620 as donation by Nicolas Rockox, mayor of Antwerp, in the Jesuit Church, Antwerp. - Auction Antwerp, 20.5.1777. - Auction Dannoot Collection, Brussels, 1829. - 1830 With art dealers Buchanan, London. - 1871 purchased by the Metropolitan Museum, New York. - Auction Christie's, New York, 5.6.1980, lot 135 (as school of Rubens). - Private collection.
Literature
John Smith: A Catalogue Raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, vol. II, London 1830, p. 21, no. 71 (as Rubens). - Max Rooses: L'Oeuvre de P. P. Rubens, vol. I, Antwerp 1886, p. 246-7, no. 183. - Max Rooses: Rubens. Sa vie et ses Oeuvres, Amsterdam und Antwerpen 1903, p. 245 (as Rubens). - Bryson Burroughs: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Catalogue of Paintings, New York 1922, p. 263, no. R82-1 (as Rubens). - Michael Jaffé: “The Return from the Flight into Egypt” by Peter Paul Rubens. In: Wadsworth Atheneum Bulletin 1961, p. 10-26, p. 25. - Hans Vlieghe: Corpus Rubenianum, vol. VIII: Saints I, Brussels 1972, S. 100 (as Rubens workshop). - Michael Jaffé: Rubens. Catalogo Completo, Milan 1989, p. 263-4, no. 661 (as Rubens).