VICTOR WOLFVOET II (ANTWERP 1612-1652)
VICTOR WOLFVOET II (ANTWERP 1612-1652)
VICTOR WOLFVOET II (ANTWERP 1612-1652)
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This lot is offered without reserve. This lot has… Read more PROPERTY FROM A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
VICTOR WOLFVOET II (ANTWERP 1612-1652)

The Daughters of Cecrops discovering the infant Erichthonius

Details
VICTOR WOLFVOET II (ANTWERP 1612-1652)
The Daughters of Cecrops discovering the infant Erichthonius
9 ¾ x 13 in. (24.9 x 33 cm.)
oil on panel, the reverse stamped with the panel maker's mark of Guilliam Gabron (active 1609-1662)
Provenance
Anonymous sale; Bonham's, London, 10 April 2013, lot 128, as 'After Sir Peter Paul Rubens, 18th Century'.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 30 October 2014, lot 89.
Literature
E. McGrath, G. Martin et al., Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard Part XI.1: Mythological Subjects: Achilles to the Graces, I, London and Turnhout, 2016, p. 434, under no. 42b, copy no. 5.
Special notice
This lot is offered without reserve. This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Brought to you by

Lucy Speelman
Lucy Speelman Junior Specialist, Head of Part II

Lot Essay


This painting is likely a copy after a lost modello by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, executed in preparation for a large canvas of the same subject which was briefly owned by the second Duke of Richelieu (1629-1715), a fragment of which is preserved in the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin, Ohio.

As recounted by Ovid in Book II of the Metamorphoses, the daughters of Cecrops, King of Attica, had been entrusted by Athena with a basket they were told not to open. Disobeying her instructions, the daughters were horrified to find Erichthonius inside, the snake-tailed infant son of Vulcan and Gaia.

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