Artus Wolffort

Private collection, Paris, acquired in Spain, 1850;
With Newhouse Galleries, Inc., New York;
Where acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Kay Kimbell;
Acquired by the Kimbell Art Foundation, Fort Worth, Texas, 1958;
Their sale, New York, Sotheby's, 4 June 1987, lot 41;
There purchased by a New York private collector;
By whom sold, New York, Sotheby's, 27 May 2004, lot 15;
Where acquired by the present collector.

Fort Worth, Texas Christian University, on extended loan from the Kimbell Art Foundation, Spring 1958 - October 1968.

J. S. Thatcher, "The Paintings of Francisco de Herrera, the Elder," Art Bulletin, 1937, vol. XIX, p. 328 (as by Francesca de Herrera);
J. S. Thatcher, Kimbell Art Museum:  Catalogue of the Collection, 1972, pp. 48-49, reproduced (as by Herrera);
J. S. Thatcher, Kimbell Art Museum:  Handbook of the Collection, 1982, pp. 75, reproduced (as Flemish School, 17th century);
H. Vlieghe, "Zwischen van Veen und Rubens: Artus Wolffort (1581 - 1641) ein vergessener Antwerpener Maler," in Walraff-Richartz-Jahrbuch, 1977, vol. XXXIX, p. 101, reproduced fig. 11;
J. S. Held, "Noch Einmal Artus Wolffort," in Walraff-Richartz-Jahrbuch, 1981, Vol. XLII, pp. 143-146, reproduced;
J. Vander Auwera, "Afgemeten, ingelijst en opgelijst. Kanttekeningen bij enkele aanvullingen op het oeuvre van Artus Wolfford (Antwerpen 1581-1641)," in Munuscula amicorum: contributions on Rubens and his colleagues in honour of Hans Vlieghe, Brepols 2006, pp. 600, 603, 610, note 25, and 611, note 47.

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 is in very good condition. The canvas has a very old glue lining. The paint layer seems to be clean. There is no visible weakness or abrasion. All of the calligraphy in the book and across the bottom edge is certainly very well preserved. Hardly any retouches are visible under ultraviolet light except for a few around the edges and some other isolated spots, and there are none that would indicate any real weakness. The work should be hung as is.
"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."

When acquired by the Kimbell Foundation (see Provenance), this powerful image of the apostle Andrew was ascribed to the Seville painter Francisco de Herrera. It was first identified as a work by the Antwerp painter Artus Wolffort by Hans Vlieghe in an extensive article published in 1977, and by Julius Held who also published it as by Wolffort in 1981 (see Literature for both).  Vlieghe and Held recognized that this painting belongs to a series of Apostles by the artist among which are a Saint Matthew, Saint Bartholomew, Saint Simon, and Saint Thomas and, more recently, Joost Vander Auwera (see Literature) has published a Saint John the Evangelist and Saint James Minor.¹At the lower edge of each painting appears a tromp l’oeil cartouche inscribed with the article of the Creed usually associated with the Apostle depicted, as well as a Roman numeral indicating the Apostle’s usual place in the sequence. One may compare these paintings, for instance, with Hendrick Goltzius’s series of prints of circa 1589 where the sequence and articles are identical.

Wolffort’s Antwerp activity begins circa 1616, and Vlieghe has dated the series to this time.  Held, however, suggested a date of circa 1620-25, based largely on the dating of an unfinished male portrait lying under the Saint Andrew, which is visible only in an X-ray.²  Held compared the style of his attire with a Flemish portrait of a man dated 1617, and assuming a time period of 1617-1620 for the Kimbell underlying portrait, notes that the Saint Andrew would have been painted over it within a very short number of years.  Held further suggested that the underlying image may be Wolffort’s own self portrait, comparing it to Cornelis Galle’s engraving of Wolffort after van Dyck for his Iconographie.  Also interesting to note in the X-ray is a change in position of Saint Andrew’s head.  Originally painted so that he looked out of the picture towards the left, Wolffort changed the position so that he looked downward at his book.³

Wolffort also executed other series, not only of the Apostles, but of the Four Evangelists and the Four Fathers of the Church.

1.  Saint Matthew (Brussels, Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunste); Saint Bartholomew (sold, New York, Christies, 31 May 1991, lot 43); Saint Simon (location unknown, published by Vlieghe, p. 101, fig. 13); and Saint Thomas (two versions known: one sold London, Bonhams, 10 July 2002, lot 346 and the other sold Vienna, Dorotheum, 17 October 2017, lot 271); Saint John the Evangelist and Saint James Minor (both in the Abbey of the Augustine Canonesses of the Holy Sepulcher, Male, Belgium).
2.  See Held, under Literature, p. 146, reproduced fig. 3.
3.  Ibid., p. 146, reproduced fig. 4.