Portrait of a nobleman of the Volpi family, his wife (née Steenhuys of Antwerp) and their children in a landscape, with attendants,
oil on canvas, 209 x 266 cm, unframed

The present work represents the family of a member of the noble family of Volpi from Como who were active in the diamond trade in Antwerp in the 17th century. Coats-of-arms are depicted on the chest on which the child dressed in pink is seated, the painting specifically depicts a member of the Volpi family who was married to a lady from the Steenhuys family. At present however the exact identity of the couple remains uncertain.

During the seventeenth century the Volpi were among the primary traders in the important center of the diamond trade in Antwerp. They worked in association with the De Groot family who had been active from the start of the century and would eventually buy out the Volpi, their firm subsequently becoming known as Van Colen & De Groot. The entrepreneurial Volpi were members of an ancient patrician house of Como which was decorated with the title of comitale as well as with Baronial rank, as indicated in the present picture through the crown above the coats-of-arms of the couple.

The identity of the couple depicted in the current picture will remain uncertain until further research is conducted in the relevant Antwerp archives. The identity of the couple depicted in the current picture will remain uncertain until further research is conducted in the relevant Antwerp archives. It is likely however, that the husband in the painting was one of two brothers, either Gerolamo or Niccolò Volpi who were associates from 1632 of Jacob, Balthasar and Ferdinand de Groot, as well as of Jan (Joannes) Fourment. Fourment was the husband of Maria Volpi, as well as, incidentally, being the brother-in-law of the artist Peter Paul Rubens. Furthermore,, Balthasar de Groot mentioned above may be the same Balthasar-Nicolaas who was married to Joanna Fourment.

The present painting has been compared to works by Pieter I Thijs (Antwerp 1624-1677). Thijs was enrolled in the local Guild of Saint Luke in 1644-45 and he was also one of the last pupils of Van Dyck, He was a portraitist for the rival courts of Brussels (House of Habsburg) and The Hague (House of Orange), as well as for the nobility and gentry of his home town of Antwerp. A similar family portrait in an outdoor setting sold at Sotheby’s, London, 7 July 2005, lot 10. Indeed, this and the present Volpi-Steenhuys family portrait reveal several compositional similarities: the figure of the servant dressed in red holds the horse back in the same manner and the placement of the coats-of-arms of the married couple on the chest is alike. These compositional convergences suggest that both works were the product of the same studio in which the master’s son, Thijs Pieter Pauwel (1652-1679) also collaborated.