(Antwerp 1610–1672)
Two market women collecting their merchandise,
signed lower left: Willemsen,
oil on canvas, 40 x 56 cm, framed

The present painting is one of the few works by Willemsen which were executed under the influence of Matthieu Le Nain. Willemsen’s oeuvre was rather irregular before a comprehensive study of the sources was carried out. A large number of mainly religious copper plates have been attributed to him: executed in the manner of the Francken family and clearly meant for the Spanish market, they are mostly monogrammed ‘A. W.’. Successively it was possible to separate these pictures from Willemsen’s oeuvre; the monogrammist AW could be identified as Adriaen Willemhoudt (cf. G. Martin, The Maître aux Béguins, a proposed Identification, in: Apollo, CIII, 348, 02/1991). Willemsen’s oeuvre can be divided in two groups: on the one hand, the numerous historical paintings and religious scenes inspired by Rubens, which he produced for the art dealer Forchoudt and hence for the Spanish market; on the other, the small group of genre paintings, where still life elements reveal Willemsen’s origin from the Antwerp School of the first half of the 17th century.

The present painting is one of the few works by Willemsen which were executed under the influence of Matthieu Le Nain. Willemsen’s oeuvre was rather heteroclitous before a comprehensive study of the sources was carried out. A large number of mainly reli