2021 - Coecke van Aelst, Pieter (1502, Aelst – 1550, Brussels): Saint Jerome in His Cell, Meditating; oil on an oak panel composed of four planks joined with dovetail joints (parquet-style), 74.7 x 100.5 cm, minimal retouching, generally well-preserved for its age, burl walnut frame.

Coecke van Aelst, Pieter (1502, Aelst – 1550, Brussels): Saint Jerome in His Cell, Meditating; oil on an oak panel composed of four planks joined with dovetail joints (parquet-style), 74.7 x 100.5 cm, minimal retouching, generally well-preserved for its age, burl walnut frame. Expert opinion by Müller Hofstede de Grot confirming the figure as an autograph work (copy enclosed), plus valuation report by A. Jockels from 1993. From the collection of Justus Müller Hofstede, who confirms the authenticity of the work—Coecke van Aelst, as head of a large workshop, employed specialized assistants for still lifes and landscapes. Hofstede assesses the central figure as a work painted by the master’s own hand; the interior, in his view, is the work of a specialized workshop collaborator from the Antwerp period. For the landscape, he suggests the collaborator Jan Tons (1470–1533). There are several variations on this theme, both by the master himself and by his workshop—the type of saint can be clearly seen in numerous variations in Marlier, p. 255, fig. 199; the background, as a compositional scheme independent of the figure’s pose, is shown in fig. 201, ibid. Painting 2021