Pieter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577-1640 Antwerp), Paul de Vos (Hulst circa 1591-1678 Antwerp) & Jan Wildens (Antwerp, 1585-1653), Diana and Nymphs hunting deer. Oil on canvas, 155 x 199 cm. © Klaas Muller

Diana and Nymphs hunting deer. Detail by Pieter Paul Rubens. © Klaas Muller

Diana and Nymphs hunting deer. Detail by Paul De Vos. © Klaas Muller

Following thorough research, Professor Arnout Balis confirmed the figures to be fully authentic and by Rubens. The animals are painted by Paul De Vos and the landscape by Jan Wildens (September 2016). The painting formed a pair with a ‘Caledonian Boar Hunt’ (lost or whereabouts unknown), made by Rubens and Frans Snyders. Both works were possibly commanded by Gian Francesco Guido di Bagno (1578-1641), the papal nuncio in the Netherlands.
The painting can be dated between 1635 and 1640, at the end of Rubens’ life

Provenance: probably from the Gian Francesco Guido di Bagno collection (1578-1641); Marchese Ferdinando de Conti Guidi di Bagno, circa 1730; probably from the Pierre Smits collection, Antwerp; Vente Fiévez (Brussels, 1936, lot n° 180 as Rubens); Baron Greindl (his auction, Van Herck, 1975)

Literature: A. Balis, Hunting Scenes, Corpus Rubenianum, L. Burchard, Vol II, Oxford 1986, cat. n° 17; J.A. Welu, The collector’s cabinet: Flemish paintings from New England private collections, Worcester 1983, cat. n° 38.