Lot 66: David and Bathsheba; and Susannah and the Elders

Attributed to Kaspar Jacob van Opstal II (Antwerp 1654-1717)
David and Bathsheba; and Susannah and the Elders
oil on canvas, unframed
19½ x 22½ in. (49.5 x 57.2 cm.); 19½ x 22 1/8 in. (49.5 x 56.2 cm.)
a pair (2)

The Earl of Zetland (according to an old label on the reverse).
Mrs A.B. Templeton, Glasgow (according to an old label on the reverse).

Van Opstal was the pupil of his father, Kaspar Jacob I, and later became master in the Antwerp guild of St. Luke around 1676/77. As well as being a painter of religious and historical subjects, he contributed the staffage to pictures by other artists, including Gonzales Coques' Venus and Adonis of 1706 (Mauritshuis, the Hague). In 1707, van Opstal received the commission for a portrait of Charles III (the Austrian nominee for the Spanish succession) for the Room of the States in the Town Hall. The present works reveal the strong influence of Rubens and Van Dyck on the artist.

We are grateful to Mr. Jan de Maere for proposing the attribution and dating the works to c.1690, on the basis of photographs.