(Antwerp 1601-1678),
A floral garland around a cartouche enclosing Saint John the Evangelist,
fragments of a signature,
oil on copper, 73 x 54.6 cm, framed

Provenance: Austrian private collection.

The present painting comes with a certificate by Dr. Klaus Ertz (January 2013).

Dr. Ertz writes: "There are altogether five magnificently coloured floral arrangements surrounding the cartouche. These bouquets contain, in clockwise direction from the lower left to the upper right, the following flowers: above a yellow blossom with a dark-coloured interior appears a blue iris, next to a pink rose, a red and white blossom, and a red and white carnation; above those, there are two blue vetch blossoms, three white lilies, two red blossoms, and a yellow one; further above are a white guelder rose, a blue iris, a yellow lily with three blossoms, a pink rose, a red and yellow streaked tulip, a white and red carnation, and two blue cornflowers. On the right side, at centre, appear three white roses, two yellow blossoms with dark-coloured interiors, two red blossoms and a red and white one; the last bouquet at the upper right consists of a red and a white rose, a blue vetch blossom, and three daffodils. Since the colourful blossoms are rendered against a dark background, they seem particularly brilliant and lend the entire picture a three-dimensional appearance…". Ertz compares the present painting to three further works by Jan Brueghel the Younger:
(1) Floral Cartouche with Saint Mark the Evangelist (1640s, private collection),
(2) The Holy Family in a Floral Cartouche (1640s, private collection);
(3) Floral Cartouche with the Holy Family (1640s, German private collection).
For the figure of the Evangelist, Ertz suggests a follower of Peter Paul Rubens.