Sebastien VRANCX (Anvers 1573 ou 1578 - 1647) Lot n° 52

Sebastien VRANCX (Antwerp 1573 or 1578 - 1647) Suite of four works of Mercy: Give drink to those who are thirsty. Feed the hungry. Visit prisoners. Welcome pilgrims. Suite of four parqueted or reinforced oak panels. Height: 65.5cm. Width: 50.5cm. Expert cabinet turquin Paris. The "works of mercy" are charitable actions that every Christian is called to practice. Described in the Bible as pleasing to God and enacted by Christ in the New Testament, they meet the needs of body and spirit. This rare series of four panels illustrates four of the seven “corporal works of mercy” which are in addition to the four mentioned above: clothing the naked, assisting the sick and burying the dead. Six of them are stated in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 25, while the seventh, the burial of the dead, only appears in the 12th century. The practice is strongly encouraged in a Middle Ages which sees in God the great organizer of the Last Judgment. Everyone can thus work for the salvation of his soul. Our four panels are part of a set of seven panels each representing one of the Corporal Works of Mercy. The other three paintings representing the other three works recently went on sale ("Assisting the sick" and "Clothing those who are naked" (November 10, 2020, Dorotheum Vienna). "Burying the dead" (same sale). This cycle of individual representations of all the works of mercy may have been executed several times. The various paintings always have the same classical architectural background. Other panels of the same size are found in particular in the Springfield Museum (Massachusetts) and in the Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit. A painting by Vrancx dated 1608 in the collection of the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum in Hanover shows the seven works on a single panel. Provenance: "Bury the dead", "Assist the sick", "Cloth the naked": Dr Lalieux de la Rocq, Belgium, until 1962