Antwerp School, 17th Century

Don José de Salamanca y Mayol, Count of Los Llanos and 1st Marquis of Salamanca (1811-1883), Madrid;

Possibly Firmenich-Richartz Collection, London;

Don Jorge Barandiarán (d. 2019), Bilbao;

Thence by descent to his children;

From whom acquired by the present owner in 2020.

M. Díaz Padrón, The Flemish Painting of the Seventeenth Century in Spain, Madrid 1976, vol. VI, Addendum fol. 2,325;

M. Díaz Padron and M. Royo-Villanova (eds.), David Teniers, Jan Brueghel and the painting cabinets, exhibition catalogue, Madrid 1992, pp. 192-194, cat. no. 24, reproduced;

L. Rosenthal, "Masculine Virtue in the Kunstkamer: Pictura, Lucre, and Luxury," in M. R. Wade (ed.), Gender Matters: Discourses of Violence in Early Modern Literature and the Arts, Amsterdam and New York 2014, pp. 331-348, reproduced fig. 5;

R. Amaral Jr., "Frans Francken II's Allegories of 'Fortune' and 'Occasio-Opportunity' revisited," in Janus 6 (2017), pp. 169-183, reproduced fig. 1.

Madrid, Díaz and Arnau, Flemish painting in the Netherlands, May - June 1988, no. 13;

Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, David Teniers, Jan Brueghel and the painting cabinets,

2 March – 2 May 1992, no. 24 (with signature form incorrectly transcribed);

Bilbao, Museum of Fine Arts of Bilbao, The Guest Work, 16 October 2012 – 6 January 2013.

The tradition of depicting painters, dealers, and collectors in interiors, surrounded by both identifiable and anonymous paintings from various countries and centuries, was firmly established in Flanders by the first quarter of the 17th century. Perhaps the most famous and recognizable example of this popular sub-genre is Willem van Haecht's 1628 depiction of The Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest (Antwerp, Rubenshuis). These whimsical and detail packed pictures allowed their respective artists to display a broad range of images for their ultimate owners. For the modern viewer, they offer an incredible snapshot into the working dynamics of the art market in the 17th century. 

The present example has been previously thought to be a work by Frans Francken the Younger, who excelled at this particular type of work. The handling, however, would appear to suggest another Flemish hand. Though the painter shown at the center of the composition has not been firmly identified, his physiognomy bears close close resemblance to Peter Paul Rubens. 

Often, as here, such interiors contained a secondary or underlying moralizing message, conveyed by the subjects of pictures within the picture itself. Here, the artist hints at the wealth that awaits the diligent painter, but at the same time warns against the fickleness of fortune and reminds us of the ultimate vanity of all such earthly ambition. The scene is set within a grand and imaginary interior of an artist’s studio, walls lined with paintings, and manuscripts, a compass, and an astrolabe are displayed on a table in the corner by a colossal stone fireplace. The subjects of the pictures are (from left to right), Hercules slaying the centaur Eurytion, The Assumption of the Virgin, Croesus and Solon, The Crucifixion, The Death of Seneca, The Adoration of the Magi, and above them three landscapes. In the center of the room, a well-dressed and evidently successful painter sits at an easel in the process of painting a canvas of Fortuna or Fortune, the model for which displays remarkable agility by posing upon a globe while holding a billowing red cloth. They are both observed by a wealthy gentleman and his wife, presumably prospective patrons or perhaps the clients who commissioned the painting in progress. At their feet, a young student diligently sketches a fragment of a classical statue lying on the studio floor. To their left, a young man is emptying a bag of coins into a casket set upon a carpeted table, displaying additional trappings of wealth including a pocket watch, coins, jewelry, and a coral rosary.

At first sight, the painting presents the viewer with the grand studio of a wealthy and successful painter, but a closer examination of the details may reveal an underlying message. For example, the most prominent picture above the fireplace depicts the Greek myth of the wealthy King Croesus of Lydia visited by the Athenian sage Solon of Athens. Solon displeased the King by remarking that even the humble, when blessed with good fortune, were happier than he with all his wealth. Moreover, the figure of Fortune balances on a globe, a symbol of her authority over the world but also of her instability, an aspect reinforced by the sheet she holds which leaves her at the mercy of the inconstant wind. The figure of the red-costumed patron may be a reference to the classical legend of Apelles, the court painter to Alexander the Great, who fell in love with his model, Campaspe, while painting her and was allowed by Alexander to marry her as a mark of his appreciation.

Thus, what may seem at first glance to be a colorful depiction of an artist’s studio possesses more subtle layers of meaning, exhorting the need for an artist to be diligent in order achieve success and avoid vaingloriousness, lest the fickleness of Fortune deprive them of it. This combination of elegance and complexity of meaning undoubtedly appealed greatly to contemporary collectors, but there is also a moral undertone present. The painting hanging behind all the protagonists depicts the death of the famous Roman stoic philosopher Seneca (c.4 BC – AD 65). Seneca, whose calm and courageous suicide on the orders of the Emperor Nero was a favorite subject for painters of this period, famously warned against the dangers of acquiring wealth without the ability to manage it. A rich man himself, he preached indifference to material fortune: “Wealth,” he wrote in his Moral Essays, “is the slave of the Wise. The master of the Fool”.

Until recently, this painting belonged to the collection of Don Jorge Barandiarán, the former Director of the Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao (1983-1996). According to an undated certificate of R. Vernaud Versailles that once accompanied the present work and referenced the Firmenich-Richartz Collection, London, this painting may have belonged to the great German art historian Eduard Firmenich-Richartz (1864-1923), though he is not known to have lived in London.