(Antwerp 1601–1678)
Diana and her nymphs fishing,
oil on panel, 51 x 82 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection Viktor Mautner-Markhof (1865–1919), Vienna;
his sale, Glückselig, Vienna, 1927;
Collection Ludwig von Kuffner (1852–1937), Vienna;
his sale, Albert and Samuel Kende, Vienna, 11 November 1937, lot 218 (as Hendrik van Balen and Jan Brueghel I);
Private collection, France

We are grateful to Klaus Ertz for confirming the authenticity of the present painting. A certificate is available.

Ertz writes: “From a slightly raised vantage point, the beholder overlooks a forest clearing that stretches orthogonally into the picture along a brook. The terrain in the foreground spans across the entire width, resembling a stage on which the scene is set and on which hunting instruments and dead animals are spread out. This stage-like space is flanked by two huge oak trunks on the sides, extending along the entire height of the composition. The beholder is thus confronted with a kind of ‘peep box’ through which a ‘theatrical performance’ can be observed. In the right foreground, the three female protagonists empty a net filled with freshwater fish. One can recognise eel, crayfish, roach, and other whitefishes, as well as a large pike. The nymph on the right, in the process of emptying the net, is in the nude. Opposite her, a semi-nude kneeling female figure, the lower part of her body covered by a red garment, holds a carp in her hands. Behind her appears a woman in a brown garment that leaves the upper part of her body exposed. Due to the quiver with arrows on her back, she can be identified as the goddess Diana. Five hounds, some reclining, some standing, partly responding to the women’s actions or to the presence of the animals, are grouped around the female figures. The nymphs’ hunting implements are suspended from the branches of the tree on the right: bows, quivers with arrows, hunting horns, and bags, as well as a red cloth. Towards the left, further shot animals are arranged in the foreground, opposite the catch of fish: various species of birds, such as partridges, pheasants, and, underneath the left tree, songbirds, followed by hares, a wolf, a roe deer, a pheasant, and a heron. A shot roe deer has been placed over a branch of the left tree. A long lance and other hunting instruments near its roots make the equipment of the female hunters complete. In the middle ground, five more nymphs from Diana’s entourage can be seen resting on the banks of the shallow streamlet. Another two nude figures standing in the water are about to cast their nets to catch more fish. Hounds observing the process are discernible in the brook. The part of the sky above that is left vacant by the treetops and their partly autumnal red foliage is illuminated by a diffuse light, the source of which is invisible”.

Ertz dates the present painting into the late 1620s. In order to corroborate his attribution, he compares it with the following compositions by Jan Brueghel II:

1) Diana’s Nymphs after the Hunt (German private collection, late 1620s);
2) Plucking the Herons (German private collection, dated 1627);
3) Diana and Her Nymphs Bathing (French private collection, late 1620s)

Ertz attributes the figures to a yet unidentified painter from the workshop of Hendrick van Balen.