(Brussels before 1610 – after 1653)
An Allegory of the Four Elements,
signed and dated lower left: Johannes van Dalem fecit 1653,
oil on canvas, 179.2 x 223.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Bonham’s, London, 6th May 1976, lot 200;
sale, Sotheby’s, London, 12th December 1984, lot 77;
sale, Sotheby’s, Amsterdam, 13th May 2003, lot 39 (€ 195,200);
sale, Christie’s, Amsterdam, 20th November 2013 (€ 253,500);
Private collection, Belgium

Literature:
J. de Maere, M. Wabbes, Illustrated Dictionary of 17th Century Flemish Paintings, II, Brussels 1994, p. 325 (ill.)

The present painting is a major work by the artist Jan van Dalen. Little is known about the artist. Between 1632 and 1670 he was active in Antwerp. Two further paintings by him dating from 1653 are known: a Tambourine Player in the Michaelis Collection in Cape Town and a Bacchus in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (inv. no. GG 1687). In its dramatic handling of light, the present painting of the Four Elements reveals the influence of northern Caravaggism. The artist is believed to have travelled to Rome in 1631, where he would have had the chance to familiarise himself with Caravaggio’s oeuvre. Having brought characteristic features of the master’s style back to Flanders, he amalgamated them with the more conservative style prevalent in his native country.