33 - 33. Suiveur de Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577-1640 Anver…

Estimate €7,000 - €10,000

Description

33. Suiveur de Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577-1640 Anvers) Les filles de Cécrops découvrant Érichthonios, l'enfant-serpent oil on panel; the reverse, stamped with the hands and castle of Antwerp and the panelmaker's mark of Ambrosius Engelants (centre) 29,2 x 38.8cm (11 1/2 x 15 1/4in). Provenance With Gallery Jean-François Heim, Basel, where purchased by the present owner before 2006 Literature E. McGrath, G. Martin, F. Healy, B. Schepers, C. Van de Velde, and K. De Clippel, Mythological Subjects. I. Achilles to the Graces (Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, XI.1), London – Turnhout, 2016, vol. 1, p. 434, under no. 42b as copy 14 The present painting depicts the moment when the daughters of Cecrops, King of Athens, disobey Minerva's command and open the casket entrusted to their care, revealing the infant Erichthonius, the serpent-bodied child destined to become a legendary ruler of Athens. The story is recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses and was a popular subject among seventeenth-century artists, who were drawn to its combination of classical learning and dramatic narrative. This lot is based on the finished painting by Rubens which is now known only through a fragment in the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio (inv.no. 1944.96). A sketch, which once belonged to Francois Boucher (Paris 1703-1770), for the finished work now hangs in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (inv.no. NM 607).

About the sale From Antwerp to Bruges, the Collection of a Flemish Connoisseur

Auction location

Auction time 11/04/2026 at 11:00 AM

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