PETER PAUL RUBENS Siegen 1577 - 1644 Antwerp & Workshop „The Christ Child and the Infant St. John the Baptist“ c. 1620/25 Oil on Canvas 125 x 158 cm Provenance: Russian Tsar's family Marriage of a Wittelsbach woman to the Russian Tsar's family to Seehof Castle, Bavaria Collection Baron Franz Josef von Zandt, Seehof Castle, Bavaria Private collection, Switzerland, 1951 Private collection, Vienna Provenance (link) Expertise Huges Le Grand (link) Expertise Didier Bodart (link) Expertise Julius Held (link) Expertise Hans Vlieghe (link) Expertise Rubenianum (link) Expertise Franz Mairinger (link) UV and X-rays (link) THE "SEEHOF" RUBENS A rediscovery that was thought to have been lost! Provenance This particularly lovely scene of Jesus and John the Baptist as children, playing with the lamb, is not only probably the most famous subject of the Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) but also of exceptional provenance: through the marriage of a Wittelsbach woman to the Russian Tsar family, the oil painting came into the important art collection of Seehof Castle near Bamberg in Bavaria, which was subsequently in the possession of Baron Franz Joseph von Zandt (1902-1951). Princess Marianna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (*1919) confirmed in writing in January 1994 that the present work was in this collection and had been sold to a Swiss art collector in 1951. Stylistic analysis After a detailed stylistic analysis, the Rubens expert and Professor Emeritus (among others Columbia University, New York University, Yale University) Julius S. Held (1905-2002) already commented in writing in March 1982 that he recognized the present painting in an excellent state of preservation as a workshop work with the personal participation of the master. It stands out in comparison to the already known paintings of this popular subject after a believed lost original by Rubens especially in its exquisite quality. It is worth mentioning that world-class museums such as the Alte Pinakothek in Munich and the National Museum in Warsaw also own repetitions of Rubens' workshop of the same subject. The Rubenianum in Antwerp and its scientific director, Professor Hans Vlieghe, confirmed Julius Held's assessment in an e-mail from 2012, underpinning its qualitative importance as the second best version in the world, after the version in Munich. Technical analysis How was this masterpiece technically judged? The large-format (125 x 158 cm) oil painting was at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in June 1991 and has been technologically examined by Prof. Dr. Franz Mairinger, (1967-1998, head of the Institute for Color Theory, Color Chemistry and Painting Materials Science). He prepared a photographic documentation, including black and white images and color negatives of both sides, as well as a radiation examination of the painting. This was done using UV fluorescence, reflective UV, infrared, and X-ray imaging. The surface of the artwork was also examined under a stereomicroscope, identifying and evaluating the layers of painting; this also allowed retouching and overpainting to be recorded. The dense, hand-woven canvas is preserved in its original format, being a composition of several canvases laid on top of each other, as was common in Rubens' workshop. This bears a ground coat of dark brush underdrawings, and on top of that a thin layer of paint called imprimatur, to which the colors were applied from hand rubbed pigments: This approach is characteristic of 17th century Dutch paintings. The analyses revealed that this work of art can be dated with certainty to the first half of the 17th century on the basis of its material composition, and furthermore its Flemish origin can be confirmed. read more...