Lot 1207 Dα

The present work, which is so far unknown in literature on this artist, is one of Katharina van Hemessen's few religious works. The painter was the daughter of Jan van Hemessen, who began his apprenticeship in Antwerp in 1519 and was active mainly in Antwerp, but also in Haarlem, until circa 1575. Around the time that his daughter was being taught in 1545/1550, his was among the leading workshops in Antwerp.
Katharina van Hemessen is most well known for her portraits, but she also painted religious works, in which she apparently remained stylistically close to her father's precursors. Thus the coloration, composition and fine depiction of details in the landscape, trees and plants allow this work to be dated to 1544, at the same time as Jan van Hemessen's "Virgin with Child" (Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Inv. Nr. 2140), which is comparable to this work and also signed similarly to this one on a stone in the foreground.

We would like to thank Hélène Mund, Brussels, for her kind support in cataloguing this work.