Jordaens, Jacob (Umkreis-Werkstatt/Circle-Studio)

Description:

Antwerpen 1593 - 1678
92 x 64 cm
Madonna of the Goldfinch. Oil/canvas, relined.
Alongside Rubens and van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens is considered one of the three most important Baroque painters of the Antwerp School. He worked in Antwerp throughout his life, where he also died. Like Peter Paul Rubens, he learnt the craft of painting from Adam van Noort. In 1621, he became dean of the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp. By the late 1630s, Jordaens is said to have had 16 pupils and assistants working under him. Following Rubens’ death, he was entrusted with the task of completing some of Rubens’ works. Jordaens ran a large workshop that had no shortage of commissions. Jordaens is said to have completed up to 35 large-format works a year. To this day, the question of attribution in the paintings from Jordaens’ workshop remains difficult to resolve.
The ‘Madonna with the Goldfinch’ may be regarded as a typical example of the art of the Antwerp School in the second half of the 17th century. Stylistic comparisons can be drawn with the figures of the great masters: Peter Paul Rubens, ‘Madonna with the Rosary and the Blessing Christ Child’, Sotheby’s NY, Jan. 1998; Antonis van Dyck, ‘Madonna and Child’, Sotheby’s, Jan. 2021, and particularly Jacob Jordaens, ‘Adoration of the Shepherds’, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, and ‘The Holy Family with an Angel’, Christie’s, Dec. 2016. It is reasonable to assume that the artist of our ‘Madonna with a Goldfinch’ was familiar with the works of his great contemporaries, at least through drawings, studies or engravings.