Gerard Seghers

With Stanley Moss & Co., Inc., New York;
From whom acquired by the present collector.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's.This work on copper is clean, although the varnish is slightly uneven. The copper plate is flat except for the upper left corner and lower center edge, where it is slightly distorted. The paint layer is in noticeably good condition. Although the darker colors throughout the background have received restorations and there are a few losses in the white wing of the angel, the lighter colors of the picture are very well preserved. It is unlikely that the retouches that have been added are particularly accurate, as the areas that have been retouched in the dark background only seem slightly thin.
"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."

This Annunciation can be dated to the early 1620s, following Seghers’s return to Antwerp from Italy, and is the only known painting on copper by him of this subject.  Two other versions of this composition are known:  a large oil on canvas (119.5 by 206.5 cm.) sold recently at Lempertz, Cologne and another smaller oil on canvas (42.5 by 59 cm.) with Galerie Alexis Bordes, Paris.¹

The large version sold in Cologne bears the arms of Anton Triest (1576-1657), Bishop of Bruges (1616-1622) and Ghent (1622-1657), for whom Seghers painted several works.  That picture is thought to have been commissioned either for the Jesuit Church of St. Michael in Kortrijk or for the Jesuits in Antwerp or the nearby city of Lier for whom Seghers, according to old inventories, painted a canvas of the Annunciation of similar format.²

This intimate version on copper, however, was almost certainly intended for private use.  The naturalism of the figures and the use of strong chiaroscuro reflects the influence of Caravaggio and his followers on Seghers’s style following his stay in Rome between 1611-1617.  Also characteristic of Seghers’s style during this period are his use of deep, luminous colors, the softness of the contours and delicate gestures of the figures.

We are grateful to Dr. Anne Delvingt for confirming this Annunciation on copper to be a work by Gerard Seghers, dateable to the early 1620s.  It will be included in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the works of Seghers.  A written report by Dr. Delvingt on the present painting accompanies this lot.

 

 

 

 

1.  The first painting sold Cologne, Lempertz, 16 November 2013, lot 1228; the second see Galerie Alexis Bordes, Tableaux anciens et sculptures, Paris 2014, cat. no. 6, reproduced.
2.  Information provided by Anne Delvingt:  circa 147 by 232.5 cm., Catalogue des tableaux déposés au collège d’Anvers. Savoir ceux dudit collège, de la Maison Professe, du Convict et du collège de Lierre, auction in Antwerp, 20 May 1777, lot 364.