Saint James the Greater surrounded by demons, the converted Philetus kneeling in front of an Altar,
inscribed lower left: Philetus; and lower right: Divus iacobus aposdolus; and upper right: C..ndgenos con Versus,
oil on canvas, 84.5 x 105.3 cm, framed

Provenance:
J. Vliet, Amsterdam;
sale, Amsterdam, unknown location, 12 October 1774, lot 79;
where bought by Van der Schley, Amsterdam;
Private collection, Hessen;
sale, Van Ham, Cologne, 22 November 2003, lot 1409 (as Cornelis Saftleven);
sale, Sotheby’s, Amsterdam, 5 May 2009, lot 62 (as Flemish School,
17th Century);
where bought by the present owner

Exhibited:
Utrecht, Museum Catharijneconvent, De heksen van Bruegel,
19 September 2015 – 21 January 2016;
Bruges, Het Sint-Janshospitaal, De heksen van Bruegel, 25 February –
26 June 2016

Literature:
W. Schulz, Cornelis Saftleven 1607-1681, Berlin/New York 1978, p. 192, cat. no. 528 (as Cornelis Saftleven);
R. Vervoort, ‘Vrouwen op den Besem en Derghelijck Ghespoock’, Pieter Bruegel en de Traditie van Hekserijvoorstellingen in de Nederlanden tussen 1450 en 1700, p. 223 and no. 113, fig. 7.8 (as Cornelis Saftleven);
R. Vervoort, De Heksen van Bruegel, Hekserijvoorstellingen in de Lage Landen tussen 1450 en 1700, p. 86, no. 64 (as Attributed to Cornelis Saftleven)

The current composition, with its complex iconography and innovative arrangement of pictorial space, recounts an episode from the thirteenth century Legenda aurea, as imagined in two engravings after designs by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, both published in 1565: The Fall of the Magician Hermogenes and Saint James by devilish arts is placed before the Magician (Divus Jacobus diabolicis praestigiis ante magum sustitur). In the legend, Hermogenes, a sorcerer in Judea, is enraged that his minion Philetus is converted to Christianity by Saint James the Great. He sends demons to bind his errant servant and the saint, only to find himself instead bound by his own demons, bested by James’s faith.

The influential print by Brueghel is the origin of the Netherlandish motif of witches on broomsticks flying up chimneys as may be seen in the hearth in the rear of the composition, where a nude man sits, seemingly bound by an enchantment within a chalk circle (see: R. Vervoort, Vrouwen op den besem en derghelijck ghespoock, in: Pieter Bruegel en de traditie van hekserijvoorstellingen in de Nederlanden tussen 1450 en 1700, Nijmegen 2011). The demons performing circus-like antics on a tightrope above also appear drawn from the Brueghel engraving. To the right of the hearth, upon the stairs, a figure with a staff appears to be herding the demons away – the indistinct inscription on the stairs which seems to read ‘C...ndgenos con Versus’ may indicate the sorceror Hermogenes. In the foreground ‘Divus Iacobus Apostolus’ is written beneath the figure of Saint James, while on the left, kneeling before an altar, a piece of paper indicates Philetus. The figure next to him, gazing out at the viewer along with the two young girls, is as yet unidentified, but may be in the Flemish tradition of donor portraits, or indeed a self-portrait of the artist who executed the work. On the left there is an inscription on the plinth supporting the crucifix which is no longer readable. Previously published and exhibited as by the Rotterdam painter Cornelis Saftleven, which is itself testament to the popularity of Brueghel’s witchcraft iconography in both the Southern and Northern Netherlands, the handling of the picture points to a Flemish artist, possibly active in Rome.