(Antwerp 1540–1619 Bologna)
The Holy Family and the Infant Saint John the Baptist with an angel and flowers, signed and dated left of centre Fecit/Dionisio Calvart Fiamengo/1579, oil on canvas, 58 x 41 cm, framed,

Provenance: probably the painting from the collection of the Counts Fries, Vienna, mentioned in S. Bergmans, Catalogue Critique des Oeuvres du Peintre Denis Calvaert, 1931, p. 9, no. 13 (Th. von Frimmel, Studien, III, vols. V/VI, September 1917); Pfatschbacher Collection, Linz.

The present painting, which comes from an old private collection, is characteristic of Calvaert in several respects. Both the enamelled smoothness with which the paint was applied and the choice of the subject, which is marked by exaggerated sentiment, are typical features of Calvaert’s art. Still a young man, Calvaert left Antwerp for Italy, where he was apprenticed to Prospero Fontana and Lorenzo Sabatini in Bologna. Between 1570 and 1572 he sojourned in Rome, where he familiarized himself with the works of Michelangelo, Raphael, and Vasari, but also with those of Correggio and Barocci. After 1572, Calvaert opened a painting school in Bologna, his most prominent students being Domenichino, Guido Reni, and Francesco Albani. In his compostions, the Fleming Calvaert, who spent the major part of his life in Italy, combined the powerful colours of Flemish Mannerists with a multitude of Italian influences. He thus created a very personal style that made him one of the most important artists of his time. The present work may be compared to two very similar compositions by Calvaert in the Oldenburg Picture Gallery and painting at Sotheby’s, London, 29 Nov. 1961, lot 90.