Wilhelm Schubert van EHRENBERG (Antwerp 1630 -... Lot 18

Wilhelm Schubert van EHRENBERG (Antwerp 1630 - 1676) Animated architectural caprice Oil on canvas 162 x 160cm (Restorations) Expert: Chantal Mauduit Wilhelm van Ehrenberg was of German origin and spent his entire career in Antwerp: in 1662 he became a member of the Academy of Painting of Saint Luke and, in 1666, he was one of the founding members of the Antwerp Academy. Wilhelm van Ehrenberg is famous for his depictions of church interiors and his descriptions of marble palaces with animated facades of numerous sculptures. The palatial perspective of our painting is the setting for a biblical episode, Abraham driving Hagar and his son out of his house, here transformed into a sumptuous classical palace. Here Ehrenberg developed a rigorous organization of architecture described with precision, a sense of the effects of sharp perspectives extending far and wide, and a clear taste for large spaces barely animated by a few characters having a secondary role and as if crushed by the monument.