Lot 2228 Dα

Several versions of Antwerp painter Jan van den Hoecke's "Entombment" are known: the epitaph in the Sint-Jans Church in Mechelen and a painting in the Museum of Fine Arts, Bordeaux. The present painting was probably also part of an epitaph. The sculptural quality of the figures, the flowing drapery and the colour palette are influenced by Peter Paul Rubens, in whose studio Hoecke worked.
Jan van den Hoecke left his native Antwerp in 1644 for the imperial court in Vienna, where he worked for Emperor Ferdinand III and his brother, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. When the latter was appointed governor of the southern Netherlands, Hoecke returned to Antwerp in 1647.