Lascivia

The present painting can be dated to circa 1618 by comparison with a second version of the subject in the Musée royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Inv. no. 6592. Of equal quality to the Brussels painting, a recent cleaning of the present lot has removed old overpaint which was added to Lascivia's drapery and which masked the second sparrow perched on her raised left hand. Furthermore, the Brussels painting lacks the fine still life elements on the left of the present painting as well as the glass and bread beneath the mirror.

Further comparisons can be made with Janssens' Diana and Nymphs of circa 1617 in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Kassel, Inv. no. GK83, and Olympus in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Inv. no. 4889. These, and the present work, all attest to Janssens' change of style away from a Caravaggesque tenebrism towards a greater classicism, which can be seen in his work as early as 1612.