(Antwerp 1599–1640 London)
Saint Paul,
oil on panel, 64.5 x 49.5 cm, framed

On the reverse the coat-of-arms of the City of Antwerp and the panelmakers mark of Guilliam Aertssen (active 1612–1626).

Provenance:
Private European collection;
sale, Christie’s, London, 3 December 2014, lot 119 (as Studio of Anthony van Dyck)

At least three series of Apostles by the hand of Anthony van Dyck are known, all of which were, however, dispersed a long time ago. The last complete series was purchased by the Munich art dealer Julius Böhler in 1914 from the collection of the Principessa di Cellamare in Naples and is still generally regarded as the first series. Our painting of Paul the Apostle is almost identical to that formerly with Böhler and now preserved in the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum in Hanover, although it is by no means an exact copy. All of the other pictures of Saint Paul attributed to Van Dyck are distinctly inferior in quality when compared to the Böhler picture and the present lot. A series consisting of five apostles (three of which bear the mark of the panel maker Guilliam Aertsens, as does the present painting) is owned by the Dresden Gemäldegalerie. Until 1984, a third series, which likewise comprised five paintings, figured in the collection of Earl Spencer in Althorp House (for the current state of research of these three series, see A. Vergara and F. Lammertse in: The Young Van Dyck, exh. cat., Madrid, 2013, pp. 200–211). The pictures of Paul from the Dresden and Spencer series are considered lost. It has repeatedly been pointed out that the three series strongly deviate from one another in terms of style and that distinct stylistic differences can also be observed within the individual series. The dates assigned to the three series vary; today it is generally assumed that they were executed between 1618 and 1620.

The panel maker Guilliam Aertsen, whose mark appears on the present painting, was active between 1612 and 1626. A dendrochronological examination of the panel carried out by Prof. Peter Klein in Hamburg established 1609 as the earliest possible date at which the tree from which the panel derives might have been cut. Given that the timber had to dry for at least two years, the panel cannot have been used before 1611. The painting of Paul the Apostle stands out for the spontaneity of its brushwork. There is no evidence that more than one hand was involved in its execution. The age of the panel suggests that the painting was executed in Van Dyck’s early period, when the artist would not have allowed a workshop collaborator to produce copies of his works without his participation.

Susan J. Barnes, co-author of the catalogue raisonné of Van Dyck’s paintings published in 2004, has examined the present painting in the original. She has arrived at the conclusion that such indicators as the painting’s unmistakable quality, the dendrochronological findings, and the mark of the panel maker point to that the painting dates from Van Dyck’s early years, i.e., his first Antwerp period.