Probablement Galerie Kunstsalon Hermann Abels, Cologne, en 1929 ;

Probablement collection particulière, Allemagne ;

Galerie De Jonckheere, Paris ;

Acquis auprès de cette dernière par les parents des actuels propriétaires en 2005 ;

Collection particulière, France

The present pair of beautifully preserved gouaches show two episodes from the Life of Christ. Until today it has remained unnoticed that the present gouaches started their life as part of a larger group.

A gouache, showing The Temptation of Christ, in the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede, also dated 1613 was once part of the series^1, as were the two miniatures in the famous Miniaturen-Kabinett of the Munich Residenz museum². All five works depict an episode in the life of Christ, all are of identical dimensions and the horizon line is at the same level. Bril worked on the series for an extended period of time. The two works in Munich are dated 1612 and 1615, while the one in Enschede is from the same year, 1613, as the Flight from our pair. 

The works show Bril´s masterful handling of gouache. There can be no doubt that, while still working in Flanders, he became familiar with this particular technique by carefully studying the delicate gouaches made by Hans Bol (1534 – 1593).       

We would like to thank Drs. Luuk Pijl for kindly confirming the authenticity of this work and for writing this entry.  The painting is sold with its certificate of authenticity.

1.     See : Albert Blankert, Dutch 17th Century Italianate Landscape painters, Soest 1978, no. 2, ill. 2.

2.     See: Rudolf Oldenburg and Hans Buchheit, Das Miniaturen-Kabinett der Münchener Residenz, München 1921, nos 25 and 26, ill.