Lot Essay
Georges Marlier, in his monograph of 1966 on Pieter Coeck, singles out the present Holy Family for the highest praise: 'De toutes les Saintes Familles de Pierre Coeck, celle-ci le fait connaître sous son meilleur jour et doit être considérée comme étant entièrement de sa main ... l'exemplaire de la collection Mouton nous montre Coeck arrivé au sommet de son art ... Le fond de paysage ... est sans doute le plus beau que l'on connaisse de notre peintre, le plus ample, le plus divers et le plus finement détaillé ... le tableau doit-il être considéré comme un des rares chefs-d'oeuvre de la Renaissance flamande'. He dates it c.1530-2, after Coeck's journey to Italy and before his visit to Constantinople of 1533. As Marlier points out, the same model would seem to have been used for Saint Joseph as for the eldest magus in one of the two Adoration of the Magi triptychs in the Prado (ibid., pp.129-30, figs.53-4) and for the Saint Jerome at Wiesbaden (ibid., p.257, fig.203), while the head of the angel is very similar to that of Saint John the Evangelist on a triptych wing also in the Prado (ibid., p.259, fig.205). The facial types of the Virgin and Child are very close to those in the Saint Luke painting the Virgin in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nîmes (ibid., p.267, fig.211), which Marlier dates slightly later and which he considers 'avec la Sainte Famille de la collection Mouton ... une de ses créations ou s'affirme le mieux l'idéal de la Renaissance'.
The wings originally formed a triptych with a central panel of The Adoration of the Magi in the Brera, no.632 (no.76 in the 1963 exhibition, fig.90; Marlier, op. cit., 1966, p.123, fig.48); Marlier dates the ensemble c.1525-8, suggesting that Pieter Coeck may have painted it in the workshop of the Master of 1518, with whom he seems to have collaborated. Marlier suggested in the catalogue of the 1963 exhibition that the Holy Family may have originally had wings with knee-length depictions of Saints Catherine and Barbara; however he subsequently pointed out (op. cit., 1966, p.222) that none of Coeck's depictions of the subject (with Saint Joseph shown bearded) are known to have had wings
The wings originally formed a triptych with a central panel of The Adoration of the Magi in the Brera, no.632 (no.76 in the 1963 exhibition, fig.90; Marlier, op. cit., 1966, p.123, fig.48); Marlier dates the ensemble c.1525-8, suggesting that Pieter Coeck may have painted it in the workshop of the Master of 1518, with whom he seems to have collaborated. Marlier suggested in the catalogue of the 1963 exhibition that the Holy Family may have originally had wings with knee-length depictions of Saints Catherine and Barbara; however he subsequently pointed out (op. cit., 1966, p.222) that none of Coeck's depictions of the subject (with Saint Joseph shown bearded) are known to have had wings