The Virgin and Child with angels making music and an angel with a bowl of fruit, behind which a circle of putti before a wooded landscape, oil on panel, 49 x 65.5 cm, framed

Certificate:
Dr Ursula Härting, Hamm (1991).

Provenance:
Philips auction, London (1990);
Rhenish private collection.

Literature:
U. Härting, Abraham Govaerts, Der Waldmaler, Hamm 2003, p. 148, cat. raisonné no. 123.

A second version of this composition, painted on copper, is held by the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyons. In her certificate of 1991, Ursula Härting wrote, “The collaboration of two specialists on one painting of a figure painter and a landscape painter, as is here the case, meant that this work was seen by contemporary collectors as the height of painterly perfection. The convincing expressive power of the figures painted by a specialist highly skilled in this craft, set in the subtle landscape, portrayed by another such expert, fulfilled all of the visual and emotional demands of the viewer. The depth of the spatial rendering of the landscape with the narrow view through the backdrop of trees, the physiognomy of the figures and the treatment of the garments mean that it is probable that this charming painting was executed circa 1615/18...”