JAN COSSIERS (1600-1671)

The penitent Mary Magdalene holding a skull. Panel. Signed in the lower right '... Cossiers f.'. Marked on the reverse with the mark of the Antwerp panel makers guild and the maker's mark of Guilliam Gabron (1586–1674). Provenance: Private collection, Antwerp Jan Cossiers was born in Antwerp in 1600. He was a student of Cornelis de Vos (1584-1651) and, following the example of many Antwerp painters, Cossiers went to Rome at the age of 24 to learn from Classical archaeology and the renowned Italian masters. He was particularly impressed by the light-dark effect in the paintings of Caravaggio (1571-1610), of which he clearly took inspiration for the graceful ‘claire-obscure’ effect applied in the present painting. Cossiers became an independent master in the guild of St Luke by 1626. Rubens also called upon him to carry out several large commissions, such as the decorations for the joyous entry of Cardinal Infant Ferdinand (1609-1641) in 1635. Although Cossiers often worked in the manner of Rubens’ large-scale compositions, he was most successful as a genre and portrait painter. Also in the present painting Cossiers applies portraiture techniques as if the young female saint was an existing woman posing for him. Her loose blond hair lies over her bare shoulder. She is wearing a rough fabric suitable for her time of repentance as a desert hermit after leaving her life as a follower of Jesus. Her hand rests on an exquisite transparently painted skull. A similar scene by Cossiers is preserved in the collection of the Walters Art Museum (inv. 37.372) in Baltimore, on which a resembling skull can be found. In the lower right, on the wooden branches his signature '...Cossiers f' can be found. The word before his surname is rather illegible. On the back of the panel, the panel maker's mark of Guillaume Gabron and the hallmarks of the Antwerp panel makers guild (castle and Antwerp hands) can be identified. Gabron was Cossiers’ brother-in-law as he married his sister Magdalena Cossiers.¹ At Artcurial, 21.03.2018, lot 106, another version is this painting on panel was sold, on which no panelmarks are present. Based on these marks, we can assume that the present painting, offered for sale in our rooms, most likely served as the prototype for the later version, sold in Paris. Besides these panel marks, the more refined brushwork adds to this hypothesis. Also in the KMSKA collection, exquisite artwork by Cossiers can found as it houses five of his paintings. We are grateful to dr. Bert Schepers (Centrum Rubenianum) and prof. em. Hans Vlieghe for sharing their expertise and their help in describing this lot. 1. http://jordaensvandyck.org/archive/gabron-family/. 64.2 x 49.9 cm (82 x 68 cm) Condition: Overschilderingen onder haar oog en ter hoogte van haar kaaklijn. Overschilderingen langs de rand uiterst bovenaan.