158. Attributed to Hendrik van Balen the Elder (Flemish, 1575-1632)

"Adoration of the Shepherds".
Oil on copper panel, unsigned, framed,
14" x 11".

This colorful scene depicting the Adoration of the Shepherds is attributed to the Flemish Mannerist, Hendrik van Balen the Elder. Well-known as the founder (and father) of an artistic dynasty of painters, who were active in Antwerp for over sixty years, Van Balen personally ran a successful workshop for 30 years and specialized in religious and mythological subjects. He had many pupils and apprentices including, in 1609, the ten-year old Anthony van Dyck, who went on to become one of the greatest portraitists of the period; Van Dyck enjoyed a highly distinguished career as court painter for England's Charles I from whom he received a knighthood.

According to the artist's biographer, Karel van Mander, Hendrik van Balen trained in the workshop of Adam van Noort, and became a master in the Antwerp painters' guild, the Guild of St. Luke, in 1592/3. Between 1595 and 1600, he is presumed to have traveled to Italy, probably visiting Rome and Venice upon the advice of his teacher. Upon his return to Antwerp, Van Balen became a member of the Guild of the Romanists, which suggests that he had indeed visited Rome and become acquainted with the artistic developments there. His early works, such as his Resurrection altarpiece in St. Jakobskerk, Antwerp, reflect the Romanist influence in its more classicizing treatment of the figures.

Throughout his career, apart from his workshop's production of altarpieces, Van Balen regularly collaborated with other artists including Joos de Momper, Jan Wildens, Lucas van Uden, the great animal painter Frans Snyders, both Jan Brueghel I and Jan Brueghel the Younger, and Jan van Kessel I. On these collaborative efforts, Van Balen provided the staffage. His most successful joint efforts were generally those subjects that gave Van Balen the opportunity to display his attractive nudes in paradisaical settings such as the Four Elements and the Banquet of the Gods. Among his most familiar collaborations are those he produced with his good friend and fellow Antwerper, Jan Brueghel I (Virgin and Child in a Flower Garland of c. 1608, Milan, Ambrosiana). In 1613, Van Balen had the opportunity to travel with Brueghel and the great Flemish Baroque painter, Peter Paul Rubens, on a diplomatic mission to the Northern Netherlands.

Most prized of all Hendrik van Balen's works are the small-scale religious and mythological scenes he produced on panel and copper. The present work, which is a prime example of Van Balen's efforts of this type, possesses a higher level of finish and more refined technique characteristic of his most desirable paintings. The onlookers surrounding the central nativity scene in this work have the elongated proportions and the dynamic "figura serpentinata" poses found in the work of most Mannerists, whether Northern or Southern. This is particularly prominent in the shepherd carrying a lamb on the right.

Although Van Balen's paintings figure in numerous museum collections, they are rarely signed. A version of the present Adoration of the Shepherds is in the permanent collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Intimate works on copper were an expensive commodity in Van Balen's time for two basic reasons. First, the panels had to be hand-fabricated to a consistent gauge and finish from a fairly costly metal. A well-made copper panel was usually worth the extra expense since it provided a more stable support than either canvas (which could be punctured) and panel (which could warp or crack with temperature change). Second, the smooth, glasslike surface of the metal required the artist to adopt a more meticulous technique, which took longer to accomplish than working on wood or canvas.

The coppersmith's stamps on the reverse of the present work confirm an Antwerp origin of this panel. The stamp bearing a hand is the mark for Antwerp, and t

12,000/20,000     SOLD: $12,420.00

Condition: Surface soils, slightly hazy varnish layer, very few spots of inpainting; top edge and bottom edge and upper left.