Hendrick van Balen le Vieux
(Anverse 1575 - 1632))

"Cerere, Bacco and Sileno" 

monogramed  HB

oil on panel

   10.31" x  18"    26.2x46.2 cm

     € 120.000,00

The examination and comparison of this work with "Europa" by van Balen, located at  the Kunsthistorishenmuseum in Vienna,  brings  me to the conclusion that both  works were painted by the same artists. In my opinion the vegetables and fruits of this painting as those in "Europa" have been accomplished by  Jan Brueghel the Younger. If we compare the figures of both panels  we'll find that the posture of Ceres is identical, the resemblance between the two nymphs seen from the back suggests the use of the same model, the same applies to the physiognomies of the winged putti.

This work can also be compared with other  works of this painter located  in the Getty Museum-Los Angeles and  Castello Sforzesco-Milan where we can find a similar composition of this subject attributed to his workshop and the other  signed work "Bacchus and Companions in a Landscape "

Hendrick van Balen was raised  by Adam van Noor and pupil of Martin de Vos. He was admitted as Master in the Guild of Antwerp in 1593, in 1605 he married Margherita Biers from whom he had eleven children, three of them will continue the artistic dynasty. Hendrick van Balen between  1593 and 1605 travelled to Italy, he was  part of the  brotherhood of the Romanists, that enrolled it's members among the artists that visited Rome, he was appointed dean in 1613. Some of his works, as  this, possess a strong Italian influence with elements of the Senese mannerism of Rafaello Vanni  through him of Federico Barocci and the Venetian school, and also of the foreign mannerists that worked in northern Italy like Hans  Rottenhammer. Hendrick van Balen specialized generally in profane subjects, but we must not forget his works in religious subjects, of large and small format and his projects of stained glass windows. His main research  in art was to express a refined  elegance of  forms.  He had numerous pupils, of different temperaments as  François Snijders and  Anthony van Dyck.