Lot Essay
To be compared with the Banquet of the Gods, signed and dated 1622, in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden (W. Bernt, The Netherlandish Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 1970, III, fig. 1104). Y. Thierry, Les Peintres Flamands de Paysage, etc., p.227, suggested that Van Stalbemt was only responsible for the staffage in the Drseden picture, which could cast doubt Van Stalbemt's responsability for the landscape in the present picture. However, Dr. U. Härting, in a letter of 18 March 1998, confirms that both the landscape and the figures are the work of Van Stalbemt.