Saint Paul; and Saint Thomas

These panels showing Saint Paul and Saint Thomas relate to the various and now dispersed series of apostles that were painted by van Dyck and his studio assistants between 1618-20 (for a full discussion on the various series, see Alejandro Vergara and Friso Lammertse in the exhibition catalogue, The Young Van Dyck, Madrid, 2013, pp. 200-211). These appear to have been inspired by Rubens, who produced a series of large panels of Christ and his apostles around 1610-12 (Madrid, Museo del Prado). Although it is debatable as to whether van Dyck saw the originals, as they were in Spain by 1618 in the collection of the Duke of Lerma, he would have unquestionably encountered the copies made by his master’s assistants. The recorded apostles painted by the young van Dyck are strikingly dissimilar stylistically and, moreover, there does not appear to be a coherent style within each series. The present pictures depicting Saint Paul and Saint Thomas, which are themselves unlike in their execution, can be compared with the panels of almost identical dimensions (64 x 51 cm.) that previously formed part of the Böhler series, and are now in the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum, Hanover, and a private collection respectively (ibid., p. 200, nos. 43 & 46). The present panels are stamped with the makers-mark of Guilliam Aertssen, whose brand is probably that found on the reverse of three panels from the Dresden series; those of Peter, Paul and Bartholmew (ibid., p. 201). The model for Saint Paul was also employed for the central character, immediately to the right of Christ, in van Dyck’s Suffer Little Children to Come unto Me (c. 1618-20; Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada).