(Antwerp 1593–1678)
The Four Evangelists by an altar with a statue of the Virgin and Child,
oil on canvas, 118.3 x 155.5 cm , framed

The present painting is a workshop variant, with the possible participation of Jacob Jordaens, preceding the artist’s Four Evangelists from 1625/30 (now in the Louvre, Paris). A further version of the Louvre painting used to be in the museum in Lodz and is now considered lost. According to Alexis Merle du Bourg, the present composition contains passages of supreme quality that might have been painted by the master himself. The presence of numerous pentimenti suggests that this is an early work from the workshop, when Jordaens and his collaborators were still insecure about the final composition and arrangement of the figures, which still betray Caravaggio’s influence.

Such expressive character heads repeatedly re-occur in the oeuvre of Jordaens. One can recognise several models he also used for other works. Andreas Grapheus, a friend and member of the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp, posed for the figure in the upper right corner. His character head also appears in a painting made several years later and now in the Louvre, Paris, as well as in several head studies (compare the painting in the Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Gent). The model posing for the reading saint in a red cloak in the foreground was also used by the painter in a picture of Saint Peter that is now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. The angel in the background might be a portrait of Jordaens. That it depicts a young man would corroborate an early date of execution. This angel also re-appears in a Holy Family by Jordaens now in the Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco.

We are grateful to Alexis Merle du Bourg for his assistance in cataloguing this lot. He believes the present work to be a fine example from Jacob Jordaens’ studio with limited participation by the artist himself, possibly in the two evangelists on the left and in the angel.