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Lot Essay
When this painting was on loan to the Royal Museum in the Mauritshuis, The Hague in 1895, the catalogue of the collection reproduced a facsimile of the date 1663 which is no longer visible. Although he is best remembered for small bucolic scenes in Italianate landscapes, Karel Dujardin painted several large scale history paintings in the 1660s, including the Conversion of St. Paul signed and dated 1662 (canvas, 186.5 x 134.5cm., National Gallery, London, Inv. no. 6296), and Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert, signed but undated (canvas, 187.1 x 142cm., John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, Inv. J.R. 1936). Franklin Robinson (op. cit., 1980, under no. 69) noted that the three paintings are close in size and style and 'perhaps in theme: the heathen being converted'. He also noted that these three religious paintings 'form the high point of Dujardin's career'.
Although it is unclear whether these paintings were part of a series, Arthur Wheelock (in the catalogue of the Warsaw exhibition, op. cit., p. 268) has observed that they were 'probably painted for an institution other than a private patron.' The large scale figures, dramatic conception and themes of healing, salvation and conversion would be appropriate for such commissions. Wheelock (ibid.), further observed indirect support for this presumption in the fact that a copy of the present painting dated 1673 by a former pupil of Dujardin, Erich van den Weerelt, hung in the orphanage (Burgerweeshuis) in Amsterdam where he had been raised (now on loan to the Amsterdam's Historisch Museum; see the catalogue by A. Blankert and R. Ruurs, Schilderijen datererd van voor 1800, 1975-9, no. 122). In cataloguing the Conversion of Paul in the National Gallery, London, Dr. Christopher Brown (National Gallery Catalogues. The Dutch School 1600-1800, 1991, p. 121) observed that the National Gallery's painting might have been commissioned by the family of Jan François d'Orvielle in whose sale it appeared in Amsterdam as early as 1705.
Although the subject of the present painting has sometimes been misidentified as St. Peter Healing the Sick, (in the 1883 sale catalogue and by Hofstede de Groot, Hollstein and Robinson, loc. cit.), the correct theme was recognized at least as early as 1894 by John Smith (op. cit.). He titled this painting 'Paul healing the man at Lystra who had been crippled since birth'. The subject was not as commonly depicted as the subsequent episode in the story when the missionaries Paul and Barnabus, angrily protested the Lystrans mistaking them for gods and sacrificing to them (for example, Pieter Lastman's influential treatment of 1614, formerly in Warsaw but now lost). Wheelock (op. cit.) tentatively suggested that Dujardin's emphasis on Paul's act of healing rather than the Saint's protestation could be viewed as a Catholic interpretation of the biblical tale. However, he also observed that a pentimenti of a figure's head bending to the right behind St. Paul may be the figure of Barnabus, who was initially included, but edited out by Dujardin.
A drawing after the painting was sold by Dr. Valkema Blouw, Amsterdam, March 9, 1920, lot 126.
Although it is unclear whether these paintings were part of a series, Arthur Wheelock (in the catalogue of the Warsaw exhibition, op. cit., p. 268) has observed that they were 'probably painted for an institution other than a private patron.' The large scale figures, dramatic conception and themes of healing, salvation and conversion would be appropriate for such commissions. Wheelock (ibid.), further observed indirect support for this presumption in the fact that a copy of the present painting dated 1673 by a former pupil of Dujardin, Erich van den Weerelt, hung in the orphanage (Burgerweeshuis) in Amsterdam where he had been raised (now on loan to the Amsterdam's Historisch Museum; see the catalogue by A. Blankert and R. Ruurs, Schilderijen datererd van voor 1800, 1975-9, no. 122). In cataloguing the Conversion of Paul in the National Gallery, London, Dr. Christopher Brown (National Gallery Catalogues. The Dutch School 1600-1800, 1991, p. 121) observed that the National Gallery's painting might have been commissioned by the family of Jan François d'Orvielle in whose sale it appeared in Amsterdam as early as 1705.
Although the subject of the present painting has sometimes been misidentified as St. Peter Healing the Sick, (in the 1883 sale catalogue and by Hofstede de Groot, Hollstein and Robinson, loc. cit.), the correct theme was recognized at least as early as 1894 by John Smith (op. cit.). He titled this painting 'Paul healing the man at Lystra who had been crippled since birth'. The subject was not as commonly depicted as the subsequent episode in the story when the missionaries Paul and Barnabus, angrily protested the Lystrans mistaking them for gods and sacrificing to them (for example, Pieter Lastman's influential treatment of 1614, formerly in Warsaw but now lost). Wheelock (op. cit.) tentatively suggested that Dujardin's emphasis on Paul's act of healing rather than the Saint's protestation could be viewed as a Catholic interpretation of the biblical tale. However, he also observed that a pentimenti of a figure's head bending to the right behind St. Paul may be the figure of Barnabus, who was initially included, but edited out by Dujardin.
A drawing after the painting was sold by Dr. Valkema Blouw, Amsterdam, March 9, 1920, lot 126.