(Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp)
The Drunken Silenus,
oil on panel, 59.7 x 75 cm, framed

Incised with the monogram of the Antwerp panel maker Michiel Vriendt (active 1615–1637) and with the brand of the city of Antwerp on the reverse.

Provenance:
Private collection, Bruges;
Collection of Prince Johann Adam I von Liechtenstein (1657–1712), Vienna, since 1711;
thence by descent in the princely collection of Liechtenstein until
1 December 1925 (when deaccessioned);
Ing. Kuderna, Vienna;
Collection Markus Lindenbaum (1887–1964), Vienna/New York;
sequestrated by the German Reich (1938);
Führermuseum Linz (Linz no. 3163);
transferred to the Munich Central Collecting Point, Munich (no. 4415, as Rubens School);
restituted to Markus Lindenbaum (26 May 1948);
thence by descent until 2014;
sale, Bonham’s, New York, 7 May 2014, lot 9;
Private collection, Germany

Literature:
J. B. Dallinger von Dalling d. J., Catalogus oder Verzeichniß gegenwärthigen Standes der hochfürstl. Bilder Gallerie im Fürst Hanß Adamischen Hausse, von anno 1805 am Ende der Tage weyl. Sr. Durchl. Fürsten Aloys von Liechtenstein und unter dem Gallerieinspecteur Johann Dallinger, Vienna 1805, no. 658 (as Rubens);
G. Rathgeber, Annalen der Niederländischen Malerei und Kupferstecherkunst von Rubens‘ Abreise nach Italien bis Rembrandt’s Tod, Gotha 1839, p. 220 (as Rubens);
Galerieinventar der Fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bildergallerie, Vienna 1863, without no. (as Rubens);
J. von Falke, Katalog der Fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bildergallerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau zu Wien, Vienna 1873, p. 29, no. 231 (as Rubens);
M. Rooses, L’Oeuvre de P. P. Rubens, Antwerp 1890, under no. 679, p. 162;
H. Knackfuss, Rubens, Bielefeld/Leipzig 1925, p. 39, pl. 28 (as Rubens, erroneously as in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg);
S. Lillie, Was einmal war – Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens, Vienna 2003, p. 700, no. 4 (as Rubens)

The present Drunken Silenus is an exciting rediscovery. It comes with a distinguished provenance. For centuries it was part of the princely collections of Liechtenstein. In 1711 it entered the collection of Prince Johann Adam I of Liechtenstein, who acquired several works by Peter Paul Rubens, for example the Decius Mus cycle and the Portrait of Clara Serena Rubens. In a letter from 12 August 1711, Referendar Georg Anton von Fellner informs the Prince of customs-related difficulties with regards to recently acquired paintings, amongst others a Bacchanalia with ten figures by Rubens that originated from Bruges (see H. Haupt, ‘Ein liebhaber der gemähl und virtuosen…‘, Fürst Johann I. Adam Andreas von Liechtenstein (1657–1712), in: Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte des Fürstenhauses Liechtenstein, vol. III/2, Vienna/Cologne/Weimar 2012, p. 985, under 3305). The Drunken Silenus remained in the princely collections until 1925, when it was deaccessioned. During the Nazi era the painting was confiscated from the emigrated Jewish collector Markus Lindenbaum in Vienna for Adolf Hitler’s proposed Führermuseum in Linz. During the final phase of the war it was recovered by the American Monuments Fine Arts & Archives Section from the salt mines at Altaussee and subsequently returned to the rightful owner, who then resided in New York City.

In the past, the present Drunken Silenus was published several times as an autograph work by Peter Paul Rubens. The prime version is in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow. Our work is smaller and more sketchily painted. The composition of the figures is similar to that of the Moscow painting except for the satyr in the bushes on the right. In the present work the satyr’s grip is rendered more convincing with all his fingers wrapped around the branch, while in Moscow only the thumb and a part of his index finger are visible. It is interesting that this detail in the present painting accords with a collaborative work by Rubens and Jan Brueghel I, Allegory of Sight, in the Prado, Madrid, which amongst other scenes shows a version of the Drunken Silenus. There the satyr’s hand clearly accords with our version. It is possible that the Prado Allegory represents a lost autograph sketch for the present painting. At any rate, as Rubens’s and Jan Brueghel’s work is dated 1617, we have a reliable terminus ante quem for the present painting.

We are grateful to Johann Kräftner and Alexandra Hanzl of the princely collections of Liechtenstein for their help in establishing the Liechtenstein provenance.