Hell

Details

Jacob van Swanenburgh (Leiden c.1571-1638)
Hell
oil on copper
19¼ x 28 in. (48.8 x 71.1 cm.)

Provenance

Baron August Thyssen, Schloss Landsberg, 1926, and by descent to
Baroness Hedwig Thyssen, Kreuzlingen, 1960, and by descent to the present owner.

Sale room notice

Please note that although the painting is sold with a frame, it is shown in a Spanish 18th century frame on loan from Diego Salazar Antique Frames and is available for purchase. Please inquire within the Deparment.

Lot Essay

Primarily remembered as Rembrandt's first teacher and as a master painter of fantastical depictions of the underworld, van Swanenburgh is known to have travelled to Italy before returning to Leiden in 1621. His scenes from Hell perhaps show the influence of Jan Brueghel the Elder who was composing similar visionary paintings in Flanders.

The present lot can be compared to a similar composition by van Swanenburgh in the Stedelijk Museum of Lakenhal, Leiden (see R. Ekkart, Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburgh, 1537-1614, Zwolle, 1998, p. 127, pl. 119).

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