Attributed to Cornelis van Poelenburch

Probably Hendrik Jan Antoni Raedt van Oldenbarnevelt (1860–1936), The Hague;

Probably his sale, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller & Co., 15 April 1902, lot 315 (as 'C. Poelenburg. St. Laurent et St. Pierre. Deux tableaux pendants. Bois. Hauteur 17, largeur 14 cent.'). 

These compositions relate closely to two pictures by Poelenburch in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence.¹ Poelenburch's paintings constitute part of a set of nine depictions of saints and figures from the Old and New Testaments, which are, in turn, after a series by Adam Elsheimer.²

Note on Provenance

These paintings can likely be traced to the collection of Hendrik Jan Antoni Raedt van Oldenbarnevelt; two pictures of the same subject, size and medium, appeared in his Amsterdam sale in 1902 (see Provenance). Raedt van Oldenbarnevelt owned a number of Dutch masterpieces, including St John the Baptist preaching by Pieter Lastman (1583–1633), which hangs today at the Mauritshuis, The Hague,³ Govaert Flinck's Portrait of a woman at the Cleveland Museum of Art,⁴ and a View of Amsterdam by Gerrit Adriaensz. Berckheyde (1638–1698), which sold earlier this year for $226,800.⁵

¹ Inv. nos 8264 and 8267; both oil on copper, one 10 x 8 cm., the other 10.4 x 7.5 cm.

² Elsheimer's pictures are all at Petworth House, West Sussex, with the exception of the Saint Laurence, which is in the Musée Fabre, Montpellier: all oil on silvered copper, each: 9 x 7 cm.

³ Inv. no. 1219; oil on panel, 60 x 92 cm.; https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/our-collection/artworks/1219-st-john-the-baptist-preaching.

⁴ Inv. no. 1977.117; oil on panel, 71.5 x 59.5 cm.; https://www.clevelandart.org/print/art/1977.117.

⁵ Oil on canvas, 52.8 x 62.9 cm.; New York, Christie's, 21 May 2025, lot 125.