Lot Essay
Marlier (op.cit.) mentions five other versions of which the most notable are those in the Musée Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp, the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen and the Hermitage, St. Petersburg. However, citing the Suermondt Museum exhibition catalogue of 1955, his numbers 4 and 5 are in fact identical, as he gives the wrong measurements for the present lot.
The present picture seems to be of the same quality as the version in the Musée Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp, of which Marlier writes: "Nous ne sommes pas certain que l'exemplaire du Musée Mayer van den Bergh à Anvers ne soit pas de la main de Van Cleve lui même", thus leaving unanswered the suggestion made by Faggin that all the versions known could be based on a lost original of about circa 1570
See colour illustration
The present picture seems to be of the same quality as the version in the Musée Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp, of which Marlier writes: "Nous ne sommes pas certain que l'exemplaire du Musée Mayer van den Bergh à Anvers ne soit pas de la main de Van Cleve lui même", thus leaving unanswered the suggestion made by Faggin that all the versions known could be based on a lost original of about circa 1570
See colour illustration