Old Master Paintings Part 1

HANS ROTTENHAMMER
(1564 MUNICH – 1625 AUGSBURG)
AND JAN BRUEGHEL THE ELDER
(1568 BRUSSELS – 1625 ANTWERP), ATTRIBUTED
THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST
Oil on panel. Slim parquetting slats at the side.
34 x 48 cm.
Framed.
As is typical in Brueghel’s œuvre, he collaborated with
other figure painters and it is the landscape elements,
the groups of trees and forest areas that he painted
himself. In this painting Rottenhammer created a rich
figure staffage, which dominates the actual subject
of the painting. Extraordinarily, the subject of the
painting is an all-encompassing view of the origin of
Christianity. The actual baptismal scene on the Jordan is
at the centre of the depiction, but it is surrounded by
numerous groups of figures who have been assigned
allegorically to the main subject. Of the three known
versions, one is dated ca. 1608 by Klaus Ertz, another
version is painted on panel (Klaus Ertz, Jan Brueghel
the Elder, Lingen 2008-2010, vol. IV, p. 1670, cat. add.
30). A third version is held by the Staatsgemäldesammlungen
in Munich, (inv. no. 4826, copper, 33 x
44 cm.) and exhibited in the Städtische Kunstsammlungen
Augsburg, as “Hans Rottenhammer the Elder,
The Baptism of Christ, ca. 1597“. One of the versions
was sold at auction at Lempertz, Cologne in 2011
(A987, lot 1227).
Literature:
cf. Hans Rottenhammer. Begehrt – vergessen – neu
entdeckt, exhibition catalogue, Weserrenaissance-
Museum Schloss Brake – National Gallery Prague,
2008/ 2009, p. 125.
cf. Klaus Ertz and Christa Nitze-Ertz, Jan Brueghel
d. Ä. Kritischer Katalog der Gemälde, vol. II, Lingen
2008/ 2010, p. 561, cat. no. 260A.
€ 40.000 - € 60.000
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