Lot 10: Lucas Gassel (Helmond c. 1495/1500-c. 1570 Brussels)

An extensive landscape with Christ healing the Blind Man signed with initials and dated 'LG. ANNO. 1540' (LG in monogram, lower centre) oil on panel 191/4 x 27 5/8 in. (48.5 x 70.2 cm.) NOTES Gassel was born in Helmond, the son of the artist Master Jannen Thonissoon van Gasselt, who is mentioned in a deed, dated 29 April 1504, in the aldermen's records of Helmond. Van Mander records that Lucas moved to Brussels, where he set up a workshop, and that he died in the same city. Unusually for the period, several of Gassel's paintings are signed and dated - the fact that he did this, and so conspicuously, in the foreground of the compositions, is probably an indication of the popularity of his work with the public. By signing his work, he probably intended to distinguished himself in the rapidly expanding free art trade in the sixteenth century. So far his total oeuvre comprises ten signed panels, among them the panel representing The Flight into Egypt, signed and dated 1542 (Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht) as well as two signed and dated drawings. Apart from this small group of signed paintings and drawings there is a large group of panels, among them copies of signed paintings which are attributed to Gassel. The paintings signed and dated by Lucas Gassel share many similarities with the present work, in the underdrawing, the painting technique and the build-up of the composition. So, for example, the large tree in the foreground acting as a repoussoir, the atmospheric perspective and the subdivision of the landscape in different levels where other narrative scenes are depicted, are characteristic of Gassel's compositions. The figures in the foreground, however, fail to fit in with his characteristic landscapes: Gassel usually positioned large, fairly stocky figures in the foreground. Those in the present picture are, in fact, later work, by Frans Francken II, and therefore of art historical interest in their own right. Infrared reflectography reveals that in the underdrawing two large figures are depicted in the foreground, clearly - both stylistically and materially - by Gassel's hand. It is most likely that these two figures represent Rafael and Tobias, who are also represented in the middle ground, after catching the fish in the Tigris. Tobias's dog is also depicted on the bank, with the pouch in which Tobias probably kept the organs of the fish; the position and the size of the fish was altered several times while making the initial sketch, a characteristic of Gassel's working method. The underdrawing was executed in black chalk, handled in a very sketch-like manner, particularly in the fast-drawn lines and diagonal hatching of the background; the foliage of the trees is created by quickly-drawn curls. At several places it can be seen with the naked eye due to some slight pigmental transparency. Whether this phenomenon might also have been the reason for repainting the foreground, is not clear - it is equally possible that a former owner commissioned the repainting because of a change in style and taste, requiring the large figures to be replaced by a smaller group that fitted more conventionally within the panoramic landscape. The x-ray photograph shows, however, that under the repainting the layers of paint put on by Lucas Gassel are - for the greater part - still present. Both subjects, Christ healing the Blind Man and Tobias and the Angel, refer to the spiritual blindness of mankind, which was redeemed by the Incarnation of Christ; the story of Tobias was seen as prefiguring that aspect of Christ, and it was this link that probably inspired the iconography of Francken's work. The loan of this painting has been requested for the forthcoming exhibition on Gassel, to be held in around 2005, at the Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, entitled The discovery of perspective. Lucas Gassel, painter and draftsman. The research for this exhibition will be carried out by Drs. Astrid Smeets, for whose assistance in cataloguing the present lot we are very grateful.