Cabinet Decorated with Episodes from the Lives of Christ and the Virgin

Entry

The present cabinet is decorated with painted scenes chiefly from the lives of Christ and the Virgin. On the central door is The Virgin and Child in Majesty, approx. 8.8 x 8.7 cm.² For the most part the treatment of the other subjects also falls unexceptionally within established tradition.

On the lid is The Flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:3-15), approx. 17.7 x 42 cm, with the customary Miracle of the Corn Field and Fall of the Idols in Egypt.³ On the interior of the wings are: left The Adoration of the Shepherds (Matthew 2:1-12, Luke 2:1-20),⁴ approx. 25.5 x 19.7 cm, from which the ox and ass are absent while special prominence is given to the lamb, brought by one of the shepherds, referring to Christ’s future sacrifice as in the Adoration by Frans Floris (1519/1520-1570) in the Koninklijk Museum voor schone Kunsten, Antwerp;⁵ right The Adoration of the Magi (Matthew 2:1-12),⁶ approx. 25.8 x 19.6 cm, where the presence of the ox is unusual but by no means unprecedented; noteworthy is St Joseph’s doffing of his cap out of respect for the Magi.⁷ On the drawers, top row from the left are: The Infant Christ in the Carpenter’s Shop, approx. 5.2 x 14.5 cm;⁸ The Coronation of the Virgin, approx. 5 x 14.7 cm;⁹ and The Apparition of Christ to his Mother, approx. 4.7 x 14.6 cm.¹⁰ On the second row, from the left, are: The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, approx. 4.8 x 14.5 cm,¹¹ and The Visitation (Luke 1:39-40), approx. 4.8 x 14.5 cm.¹² On the third row, from the left, are: The Infants Jesus and John the Baptist, approx. 5 x 14.5 cm¹³ and The Education of the Virgin, approx. 4.8 x 14.5 cm.¹⁴ On the bottom row, from the left are: The Annunciation (Luke 1:26-36), approx. 4.7 x 14.5 cm;¹⁵ The Return of the Holy Family from Jerusalem (Luke 2:51), approx. 5 x 14.7 cm;¹⁶ and The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, approx. 4.7 x 14.5 cm.¹⁷ As in the case of Frans Francken II’s (1581-1642) treatment of the latter subject of 1640,¹⁸ the Virgin is shown within the Temple, and not mounting the fifteen steps up to it.

The selection of subjects seems incoherent, as The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine is relevant neither to the life of Christ nor to that of the Virgin. Maybe the selection was made from a group of religious subjects available in a workshop, with The Mystic Marriage being included for the want of any others depicting the lives of Christ and the Virgin.

Assuming that the lid is integral, it can be surmised that there was another problem connected with the supply of appropriate subjects, and that the stock of another artist was exploited to make good a shortage. The Flight into Egypt is executed more competently than, and in a different manner from, the other scenes. The latter are rendered so poorly that it is unlikely that this painter could be identified; but it is no more than tempting to associate the handling of The Flight into Egypt with Guillam Forchondt (1608-1678) as his signed oeuvre does not warrant this.¹⁹ Neither hand has as yet been found to have worked on the decorations of other cabinets, and the matter is further complicated by the inscription on the reverse of the lid.

Lunsingh Scheurleer²⁰ drew attention to the name ‘Francoys’ ‘signed on the rear of one of the panels’; in fact, he was referring to the inscription on the reverse of the lid. Fabri and Baarsen²¹ have disputed his contention that it is the signature of the artist responsible for the painted scenes. Fabri believes that it may have been inscribed by the entrepreneur responsible for the production of the cabinet and was indeed the name of the artist who had been commissioned; if this was the case, it would presumably be the name of the artist who painted the lid. At all events, she was unable to identify the ‘cantoorschilder’ (specialist painter of scenes decorating cabinets). No similar inscription has been recorded on other cabinets and its raison d’être must remain hypothetical.

Baarsen has suggested a probable date of 1625-50 for the creation of the cabinet.²² No precise prototype for any of the compositions has been identified, but three may owe their inspiration to prints after compositions by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Two by Schelte Adamsz Bolswert (1584/1588-1659) – of the Education of the Virgin²³ and the Return of the Holy Family from Jerusalem²⁴ – were published by Martinus van den Enden (active 1630-c. 1643/1645),²⁵ while the third The Infants Jesus and John the Baptist was made into a woodcut by Cristoffel Jegher (1596-1652/1653), whose association with Rubens began in 1633.²⁶ Thus a date from not long after 1633 for these scenes and the others painted by the same hand would seem likely. Very probably The Flight into Egypt was painted about the same time.

Gregory Martin, 2022

Editor's note: the museum's photograph dates from before 2006. Since then, the order of the drawers has been changed, restoring the original layout. A new photograph will be made.