Lot 17: Artus Wolfaerts (Antwerp 1581-1641)

A Personification of Winter with signature 'GHONTHORST' (GH linked, lower right) oil on canvas 441/4 x 351/2 in. (112.3 x 92.6 cm.) NOTES Born in Antwerp in 1581, Wolfaert's family moved that year to Dortrecht where by 1603 Artus had become a master. By circa 1615 he was back in Antwerp and working as an assistant in the workshop of Otto van Veen, with whom he was now living. Amongst his commissioned alterpieces are the Ascention and the Assumption of the Virgin, St. Paul's, Antwerp, circa 1617. However his compositions were usually of life size figures, often half lengths, such as his Twelve Apostles, the Four Fathers of the Church, or the Four Evangelists, of which there are various versions. His work was little known until comparitively recently, with some of his work being ascribed to early Rubens, amongst others. Assistants in his workshop included Pieter van Mol and Pieter van Lint, who bear traces of his influence in their own later work.