Attributed to Gillis Coignet the Elder

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The oak panel is in good condition; the panel thickness has been reduced on the reverse around the edge. The paint surface is stable . There are fine pale vertical cracks visible. There is the remains of a discoloured varnish in the lower section of the painting. A small scattering of retouchings are visible under u-v light and some of the faux marbling has been augmented by restoration."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Coignet was famed for his depictions of night scenes in his own day, as Van Mander records: 'He also had a subtle way of painting night scenes very inventively'. Though painted on a completely different scale to the present work, night scenes by Coignet such as his Drawing of the lottery for the Amsterdam asylum in the Amsterdams Historisch Museum and Judith showing the head of Holofernes to the men of Bethulia painted in 1593, with Stradanus B.V.B.A., Antwerp,¹ support at least a tentative attribution of this picture to him.

1. See H. Miedema (ed.), Karel van Mander. The Lives of the Illustrious Netherlandish and German Painters, vol. V, Doornspijk 1998, reproduced figs. 4 and 5.