The Holy Family with Sts. Elizabeth and John in a landscape,
oil on copper, 31 x 42 cm, framed

Provenance:
Rhinish private collection

This painting has a full certificate from Dr Klaus Ertz. He writes, “The condition of this painting is good. The colours employed create a vivid, luminous effect. The paint has been applied thickly and in an impasto manner. The layers of paint laid down in thin glazes, which can particularly be seen in the flowers and leaf edges, are well preserved...” Ertz mentions both of the following pictures as a comparison and exemplary of the collaborative work carried out by Jan Brueghel II and Frans Francken III, “Flowers and fruit encircling a medallion with the meeting of the Virgin and St. Elizabeth,” 1730s (Spanish private collection) and “Floral wreath encircling a medallion with St. Bernhard of Clairvaux in prayer,” late 1730s (private collection). Ertz continues, “On examination of the original, it was possible to ascertain that the landscape was executed first, and the figures were then added (by Frans Francken III). The figures almost lie ‘on top of the landscape’. This is easy to see, since no leaves, flowers or twigs protrude over the garments of the people depicted, such as one might see in many other pictures in the painting of which several painters have been involved. The picture would thus have been painted by the landscape artist, who would have left a ‘gap’ and then sent it off to the figure painter. He would not have returned it, but may have sold it himself...” Little is known about Frans Francken III, who painted the figures in this painting. It is known from historic invoices that he was frequently paid for figural groups, which he inserted into paintings produced by his colleagues.