Pieter Aertsen - Christ Driving the Merchants from the Temple - image-1

Lot 1220 Dα

Pieter Aertsen - Christ Driving the Merchants from the Temple

Auction 1067 - overview Cologne
21.05.2016, 11:00 - Old Master Paintings and Drawings, Sculpture
Estimate: 18.000 € - 24.000 €

Pieter Aertsen

Christ Driving the Merchants from the Temple

Oil on panel. 29.5 x 34 cm.

Inscribed to the pillar: "IOAN".
This small painting can be dated to the end of Pieter Aertsen's career, around 1570-1575. The master's works being generally of large size, it can be presumed that the present painting was ordered for a small interior space. It can be compared to "Christ with Martha and Maria" (Ghent Museum voor Schone Kunsten, inv. 1938 C) which is another example of such format. The late works of the painter's production are more complex in terms of planes and architectural motifs, probabably inspired by Sebastiano Serlio's treatise "Tutte l'opere d'architettura et prospettiva", published around 1537-1540, which had a huge impact throughout Europe. Even in small panels, the strong characters of Aertsen's figures and his taste for a realistic description of life are plainly noticeable.

Provenance

Private collection, Helsinki, 1936. - Auctioned by Christie´s, London, 9.11.1998, lot 99 (attr. to Pieter Aertsen). - Private collection, Belgium.