Auction 61 / Lot 25

Signed and dated lower left 'N. De Keyser ft 1842'. Verso: Stamp of the artist. Frame. Nicaise de Keyser painted this imposing, excellently preserved painting two years after his marriage to the painter Isabella Telghuys. A few years later he became director of the academy in Antwerp and successor of Gustav Wappers. He is still regarded as an outstanding painter of battles and genres of his time and is a virtuoso at depicting large groups of people. The painting centrally shows Peter Paul Rubens painting the portrait of Susanne Fourment (''Le Chapeau de paille'') with a palette. Susanne was the sister of his second wife Helene, which narrows down the chronology of the depiction to the years 1622-25. It can be assumed that Rubens is standing next to his patron and sponsor Archduke Albrecht and his wife Isabella, next to Susanna, the standing young man on the right could be Anthonis van Dyck, and in front - the then mayor of Antwerp Nicolaas Rockox, together with Rubens' wife and children. The location of the depiction is easily recognisable by the sculpture standing on the entrance gate as the Rubens House (Wapperplein) with Mercury and Athena on the portico.