Jacob Jordaens, 1593 Antwerpen – 1678 ebenda, zugeschrieben

THE PROPHET ELIA RECEIVES FOOD FROM THE ANGEL BEFORE GOING TO MOUNT HOREB Oil on canvas. Doubled. 69 x 58.5 cm. In sculpturally decorated frame. Accompanied by an expertise by Alessandro Delpriori, copy. Two polychrome figures spanned by a velum can be seen between two twisted columns in grisaille resting on square bases with gilded Ionic capitals, their polychromy juxtaposed with the grisaille and their realistic content more tangible and their significance heightened in comparison to the apparent architectural border. A passage from the Old Testament is depicted (1 Kings 19:1-8). Elijah had just killed the prophets of Baal and Ahab reported this to Jezebel, who immediately sent messengers to Elijah saying: "Let the gods do this and that to me if I do not do to you by this time tomorrow as you have done to them". Elijah was terrified, fled into the desert, sat down under a juniper tree and wished for death. However, Elijah, standing here in only a loincloth, was fed twice by an angel - a loaf of bread and a cup are depicted here - which is traditionally read as an anticipation of the Eucharist. He then went to the mountain of God, Horeb, for forty days and forty nights. We are already familiar with Jacob Jordaens' pillar motif from other paintings, such as the "Triumph of the Stadtholder Frederik Hendrik van Oranje Nassau" from 1651, which is kept in the Muzeum Narodowe Warschau (inv. no. M. Ob. 57). Although not rotated, the columns also frame the action in the "Presentation in the Temple" in the Old Masters Picture Gallery (inv. no. 1012) by Jacob Jordaens. Above all, however, the painting by Peter Paul Rubens with the same motif in the Musée Bonnat in Bayonne in France from 1625-1628 must be mentioned as the most important model, to which the present painting by Jacob Jordaens can be seen as a copy. That painting is to be seen as a preliminary study for a tapestry with the theme of the Eucharist for the Franciscan convent of the Descalzes Reales in Madrid, commissioned by the Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia, daughter of King Philip IV. The series of tapestries is one of the most ambitious works entrusted to Rubens, so the documents clearly state that the master's role was only to produce the sketches and designs. The pupils, who included the best Flemish and Dutch artists of the market, copied these into larger cartoons and models - as can also be seen in this painting - until the monumental forms of the tapestries were woven and sent to Madrid. We know that Rubens was already working on this series of sketches in 1626 and that the finished weavings were sent to Spain between 1627 and 1633. The work was greatly appreciated by the King and his family, who also had a privileged relationship with Rubens, as he was appointed Count Palatine of Spain in 1625 (perhaps due to the interest of the Infanta Isabella). No fewer than 19 sketches have survived and are distributed among various museums, but the most important nucleus is of course the Prado in Madrid. The Rubens bozetto, painted between 1626 and 1633 on the theme of Elia, was in the collection of Victor-Bernard Derrécagaix, who bequeathed his collection, including the bozetto, to the museum in his home town of Bayonne. Alongside Peter Paul Rubens and Athonius van Dyck, Jordaens was one of the three most important Flemish painters who shaped the Antwerp School in the 17th century. The artist is known for his large and numerous scenic genre paintings, which are based on proverbs by his contemporary Jan Brueghel the Elder, such as his most famous paintings "The King drinks" and "As the old hum, so the young whistle". Provenance: Galerie Fischer Auktionen, Lucerne, December 27, 1949, lot 49, as Anthony van Dyck. Private collection, Switzerland. Private collection, Italy. Annotation: See the comparative illustration of the tapestry in the Monasterio des Descalzas Reales in Madrid, which shows the same, reversed motif. The dimensions of the tapestry are 490 x 420 cm. Literature: Cf. Ludwig Burchard, Corpus Rubenianum, vol. I, 1968, pp. 304-306 (no. 9b). Cf. Julius Samuel Held, The oil sketches of Peter Paul Rubens, a critical catalogue, vol. 1, Princeton 1980, no. 97. Cf. Ludwig Burchard, Corpus Rubenianum, The Eucharist Series, vol. 9, 1978. Cf. Rubens, Painter of Sketches, exhibition catalog, Madrid 2018, cat. 35-41, pp. 142-152. (1390661) (13) Jacob Jordaens, 1593 Antwerp - 1678 ibid, attributed ELIJAH THE PROPHET FED BY AN ANGEL BEFORE HIS WALK TO MOUNT HOREB Oil on canvas. Relined. 69 x 58.5 cm. Accompanied by an expert's report by Alessandro Delpriori, in copy.