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Lot Essay
The main version, on panel, 33 x 47 cm, is in the Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna (see M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, Leiden, 1974, XI, p. 78, no. 108, plate 92).
Not much is known about Jan Wellens de Cock. Only some archival documents tell us that he lived and worked in Antwerp between 1506 and 1527. For instance, in 1520 he was dean of the Antwerp guild of Saint Luke together with Joos van Cleve. No signed works have survived and Max J. Friedländer reconstructed his oeuvre on the basis of a Landscape with Saint Christopher, now in a private collection in Germany, that was reproduced in an engraving with the inscription 'Pictum J. Kock' (see M.J. Friedländer, op. cit.). The landscape with Saints Paul and Anthony is stylistically close to the former picture. Like his contemporary Joachim Patinir, the artist specialized in landscapes with hermit saints. Many of the compositions now attributed to Jan Wellens de Cock were once given to Lucas van Leyden. A painting with a depiction of Saints Paul and Anthony with an attribution to that same artist was owned by both Sir Peter Paul Rubens and Frans Snyders.
At the age of ninety, Saint Anthony the Great, also known as Anthony Abbot, had a vision that revealed to him that another holy man was living in the desert. He made his way to the cave where the one hundred and thirteen year old Saint Paul was living. Both continued to lived an ascetic life devoted to contemplation. Saint Anthony, who is often considered the founder of monasticism, is depicted wearing a monk's cloak, whereas Saint Paul is in rags. Both are shown here in the company of a raven which is said to have provided bread for them during their time in the desert.
Not much is known about Jan Wellens de Cock. Only some archival documents tell us that he lived and worked in Antwerp between 1506 and 1527. For instance, in 1520 he was dean of the Antwerp guild of Saint Luke together with Joos van Cleve. No signed works have survived and Max J. Friedländer reconstructed his oeuvre on the basis of a Landscape with Saint Christopher, now in a private collection in Germany, that was reproduced in an engraving with the inscription 'Pictum J. Kock' (see M.J. Friedländer, op. cit.). The landscape with Saints Paul and Anthony is stylistically close to the former picture. Like his contemporary Joachim Patinir, the artist specialized in landscapes with hermit saints. Many of the compositions now attributed to Jan Wellens de Cock were once given to Lucas van Leyden. A painting with a depiction of Saints Paul and Anthony with an attribution to that same artist was owned by both Sir Peter Paul Rubens and Frans Snyders.
At the age of ninety, Saint Anthony the Great, also known as Anthony Abbot, had a vision that revealed to him that another holy man was living in the desert. He made his way to the cave where the one hundred and thirteen year old Saint Paul was living. Both continued to lived an ascetic life devoted to contemplation. Saint Anthony, who is often considered the founder of monasticism, is depicted wearing a monk's cloak, whereas Saint Paul is in rags. Both are shown here in the company of a raven which is said to have provided bread for them during their time in the desert.