Flemish School, 17th Century

J. Vliet, Amsterdam;
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, unknown location, 12 October 1774, lot 79, to Van der Schley, Amsterdam;
Private Collection, Hessen;
Anonymous sale, Cologne, Van Ham, 22 November 2003, lot 1409 (as by Cornelis Saftleven and Joan de Cordua).

W. Schulz, Cornelis Saftleven 1607-1681, Berlin/New York 1978, p. 192, cat. no. 528.

The actual painting is less red in tone than the catalogue illustration suggests. The canvas has a recent stable relining. No major damages are apparent. A few very minor surface scratches are visible along the lower edge. The paint surface is secure, if slightly abraded in some of the darker areas, and is under a clear layer of varnish. Minor strengthening can be observed in the foreground figures and in the creations lower right. Inspection under UV light reveals a few tiny scattered retouchings, e.g. in the coat of Saint James and in the background centre right. Offered in a plan wood frame with a gilt fillet in fair condition. (MW)
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This intriguing painting once was attributed to Cornelis Saftleven (1607/8-1681), which is not surprising, considering the number of works devoted to Devil worship, black magic and witchcraft Saftleven painted throughout his career. Furthermore, the scene in the background of a witch's coven with animals, ghouls and semi-human figures, appears to be borrowed directly from a work attributed to Saftleven, sold, New York, Christie's, 14 March 1995. However, with the exception of the two richly attired young girls in the foreground, both the appearances of the figures and the colour palette seem more overtly Flemish in execution.

The story is taken from the life of Saint James the Greater as told in the Golden Legend by Jacopo da Voragine¹, and is associated with a sort of magical competition between the Saint and the sorcerer Hermogenes. Saint James had returned to Judea from Spain, and was confronted by a certain Philetus, a follower of Hermogenes, who was sent by the latter to discredit Saint James as a false prophet to the Jewish populace. However, Philetus himself was converted, which so enraged Hermogenes that he used his magical powers to torment his erstwhile disciple and dispatched demons to fetch Saint James to him. The creatures, however, were powerless against the Saint, and Hermogenes himself, ultimately became a Christian. Here the moment is depicted in which Philetus, kneeling at the altar on the left, has already been converted, and the furious magician has just sent his infernal monsters, which surround an unyielding Saint James.

1. See J. de Voragine, W.G. Ryan (trans.), The Golden Legend. Readings on the Saints, vol. II, Princeton 1995, pp. 3-10.