Jan Claeissens - Four Panels: Saint Lawrence, Saint George, Saint Francis of Assisi and a Praying Donor

Jan Claeissens

Four Panels: Saint Lawrence, Saint George, Saint Francis of Assisi and a Praying Donor

Oil on panel. Each 92 x 34 cm.
The panel with the praying donor signed, dated and inscribed (lower left on the prie dieu): 1628 Ioan. Claeiss. F. / ÆTATIS· 69. Ao.1628..

These four panels, long housed in the important art collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein in Vienna and described there by Waagen, can be attributed to Jan Claeissen, the scion of a Flemish family of artists who worked in Bruges for many years.
The coat of arms with the letters L and C, connected by an elaborate red band, can be interpreted as "Liefde Christi", or "Love of Christ".

Provenance

F. Goldmann, Vienna, until 1816. - Johann I Josef, Fürst von Liechtenstein, Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf. – Gartenpalais Rossau (mentioned by Falke in 1873 and 1885). – Gaming, Steiermark, 1941 until 1945. – Laufen in Ischl, until 03.04.1945. – Insel Reichenau, Bodensee, until 21.04.1945. – Vdazu palace, Liechtenstein. – Auctioned by Christie´s, „Property from the Collection of the Princely House of Liechtenstein“, London, 9.7.2008, lot 115. – Acquired there by the current owner.

Literature

Gustav Friedrich Waagen: Die vornehmsten Kunstdenkmäler in Wien, Vienna 1866, p. 283. – Jakob von Falke: Katalog der Fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bilder-Galerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau zu Wien, Vienna 1873, p. 119, no. 1039. – Jakob von Falke: Katalog der Fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bilder-Galerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau zu Wien, Vienna 1885, p. 97, no. 723. - Ludwig Scheibler, Über altdeutsche Gemälde in der Kaiserlichen Galerie zu Wien, in: Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft, X (1887), p. 304. - W. H. James Weale: A Family of Flemish Painters, in: The Burlington Magazine, XIX (1911), p. 204 – Adolf Kronfeld: Führer durch die Fürstlich Liechtensteinische Gemäldegalerie in Wien, Vienna 1931, p. 142, no. 723.