Hendrick Van Balen

HENDRICK VAN BALEN, CHRIST BLESSING THE CHILDREN, SIGNED AND DATED, OIL ON PANEL
Born in Antwerp, Hendrick van Balen (1574-1632) enjoyed a highly successful career in a flourishing artistic centre of the early seventeenth century. Karel Van Mander (1548-1606) records that he was the pupil of Adam van Noort (1561/1562-1641), before joining the painters’ guild in 1592-3. Shortly after, like many of his contemporaries, he travelled to Italy for an extensive period, from around 1595 to 1602, and on his return to Antwerp became part of the Guild of Romanists (Confrérie des Romanistes), whose members included Rubens (1577-1640) and Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625); Van Balen became Dean of the guild in 1613. The guild grew in importance, giving artists access to new patrons, allowing them to maintain ties to Rome and to enhance their social standing. Van Balen ran an active workshop, at one point teaching Van Dyck (1599-1641), and he collaborated frequently with other artists, in particular working as a specialist figure painter with Jan Bruegel, producing cabinet pictures of mythological and religious subjects for Antwerp’s thriving and well-educated market.
This fine panel shows the free brushstrokes and strong drawing that characterise van Balen's work; there is a preparatory drawing, with some variations in the background and some of the figures, for the composition in the Musée du Louvre (Cabinet des Estampes, no. inv. 19.341 – B. Werche, 2004, op. cit., I, p. 226, no. C 5; II, p. 487, no. C 5).
- Emmanuel Servais (1811-1890), Luxembourg. | Vente anonyme, Sotheby's, Londres, 13 décembre 1978, lot 242. | Vente anonyme, Blindarte, Naples, 9 décembre 2007, lot 58.