The Annunciation

The present picture is one of several versions produced by Victor Wolfvoet and his studio, which derived from a composition by Cornelis Schut that was known through an engraving by Paul Pontius (see G. Wilmers, Cornelis Schut (1597-1655): A Flemish Painter of the High Baroque, Turnhout, 1996, no. A98). Wolfvoet conceived the presumed prime version as the central oval scene of a collaboration with Daniël Seghers, who painted the surrounding flower garland. A signed version on copper was sold by Sotheby's, Olympia, 7 December 2004, lot 460, with another unsigned copper held in the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich. A third version, with some variations, appears on the interior of an Antwerp cabinet on stand in the Casa-Museu Dr. Anastácio Gonçalves, Lisbon.

We are grateful to Dr. Bert Schepers for his assistance in the preparation of this entry.