Beskrivning: Se även beskrivning i den engelska versionen

Catalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 177: 

Technical notes: The painting’s original support,
now lined, consists of two pieces of a medium-weight,
plain weave, single-threaded fabric, tightly woven of
irregular threads, and sewn together with a vertical seam
near the centre. The tacking edges of the original fabric
support have been cropped and the painting attached to a
non-original stretcher at the tacking edges of the lining
fabric. Broad cusping is present along the top and left
edges only. The present dimensions of the painting may
be compared to those of a version in Brunswick (mentioned
below) which is of identical height, but wider than
the present painting. The support was prepared with a
thick, evenly applied, reddish brown ground, possibly
applied using a knife, and intended to hide the weave texture
of the fabric completely. No underdrawing could be
detected by infrared reflectography.

Paint was applied thickly in mainly opaque layers, with
extensive use of impastos in the highlights, the whites
and yellows, the lighter flesh tones, and the sky. In the
pinkish flesh tones, built up with a fluid paste of opaque
yellowish white, a semi-transparent medium grey underpaint
was applied to serve as a base tone for the shaded
areas of faces and bodies, reinforced by a warm red glaze
with the addition of thick yellowish white lights. A
broadly executed dark underpainting, used to block in
areas of shadow in several of the faces, was also detected
by infrared reflectography. The yellow of the drapery of
the goddess at the far right was glazed with ochre and a
warm deep red for the depths of the folds, and with thick
bright yellow (lead-tin?) highlights. Some of the secondary
figures were added, probably by different hands, after
the principal figures had been painted, such as the three
bearded male heads squeezed in between two of the principal
figures of gods seated at table on the left, or the
female head glimpsed between two attendants serving
wine in the centre background. The landscape elements,
the grotto, foreground, sea and sky, were filled in after
the figures, including the putti at the top, had been
painted; the white tablecloth was painted after the still
life objects on, and in front of, the table had been executed.
The fruit and vegetables spilling out of the large cornucopia
held by a goddess on the right were painted after
the adjacent figures of goddesses and putti. No pentimenti,
not even in the form of contour adjustments, are visible
to the naked eye, nor could any be detected by
infrared reflectography.

A thick layer of discoloured old varnish is present. The
paint surface has been flattened through the relining
process, which also caused the texture of the fabric support
to become apparent in the image. A small square piece of
the original fabric is missing at bottom right (to the right
of the large shell). Retouching covers extensive repaired
losses of the paint and ground layers along the edges, at
the top corners, and scattered throughout the foreground
figures and the landscape. There is a pronounced overall
craquelure, with small associated flaked losses. The painting
underwent conservation treatment in 1959.

Provenance: Gustav III 1792, no. 110 (as circle of
Rubens); KM 1795, no. 94; KM 1816, no. 741 (as Jan van
der Hoecke).

Exhibited: Stockholm 2000, 87; Stockholm 2010, no.
83.
Bibliography: Sander II, p. 112, no. 110 (as circle of
Rubens); NM Cat. 1867, p. 32 (as Jan van den Hoecke);
Göthe 1887, pp. 302–303 (as Gerard Seghers); Göthe
1893, p. 364; Göthe 1900, p. 376; NM Cat. 1958, p. 185;
Cavalli-Björkman 1979, p. 67 (as Gerard Seghers); NM
Cat. 1990, p. 332; Bieneck 1992, C 20 A (as possibly by
Gerard Seghers).

The motif, The Banquet of Acheloüs, comes from Ovid’s
Metamorphoses (Book VIII, cap. V, pp. 545–576). Ovid
recounts that while returning from Crete, Theseus
and his entourage were compelled to wait as the river
Acheloüs had flooded. The river god invited the company
to rest in a cave on the shore of the sea where he
gave a banquet in their honour.

We see the troop of gods seated at the table being
served by nymphs and amorines. In the centre the
naked, bearded, white-haired Theseus is portrayed
lifting a goblet full of wine. The table has been laid
with dishes and plates of oysters, lobster and fish. A
large dog is lying under the table. In the foreground,
in front of the table, various mussels and shells are
lying and there is also a large bronze pitcher as well as
a basket with plates, bread and a linen cloth. Three
female figures are grouped to the right, one of them
the goddess of fertility with a large vessel containing
fruit and berries. Pearls adorn her hair. Behind, to the
right, the beach can be discerned and far away Neptune
and Amphitrite can be glimpsed in a boat surrounded
by tritons.

In his monograph on Gerard Seghers Bieneck refers
to the Nationalmuseum’s painting as one of the master’s
more uncertain works. There are great similarities
with the details in The Last Supper in Copenhagen
(Bieneck 1979, no. C8). The folds of the cloth match
and in the foreground the same basket can be seen.
The colours and execution of this work is characteristic
of Seghers’ style in the 1620s. At this time he had
abandoned the chiaroscuro effects developed in Italy
under the influence of Caravaggio and Bartolommeo
Manfredi.

He had adopted a lighter palette influenced by
Rubens. Another distinct characteristic of Seghers’
style at this period is the clarity of the still life elements.
What has complicated attribution of this work is
that the same theme exists in so many versions. They
are almost all attributed to different artists. In Vienna
a painting with the same motif, earlier ascribed to Van
der Straet, is now attributed to Artus Wolffort1 (Fig. 1)
and in the Musée du Louvre a similar version, earlier
attributed to Jordaens, is now labelled “School of
Rubens”.2 In Brunswick another painting that is very
close to the Nationalmuseum’s version, was attributed
to Artus Wolffort by Vlieghe 1977 but is now once
more attributed to Gerard Seghers (Fig. 2).3 The only
differences between the Brunswick and National -
museum paintings can be found in details such as the
fruit and objects displayed on the table.
It may be that the treatment of this popular motif by
artists in the circle around Rubens originates with the
master himself. The Banquet of Acheloüs in the Metropolitan
Museum, a collaboration between Rubens and
Jan Brueghel in 1614–1615, is, however, an earlier
composition that is somewhat different in execution.4
GCB

1 Oil on copper, 50 x 81, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Provenance:
Sammlung Erzherzog Leopold Wilhelm. See Hans Vlieghe, “Zwischen
van Veen und Rubens: Artus Wolffort (1581–1641) ein vergessener
Antwerpener Maler”, Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, Band XXXIX, 1937, p.
118, fig. 44. See also Henry Burdon, “Le Festin des dieux, essai sur l’humanisme
et les arts plastiques, P. U. F.”, Paris 1960.
2 No. 141 936 (deposit in Mans), oil on panel, 105 x 74. Another version
very close to the Louvre picture is in private ownership in Cardiff. See E.
Cammaerts, School of Rubens or School of Jordaens, The Connoisseur,
August 1938, pp. 87–89, 107.
3 Oil on canvas, 169 x 235, Brunswick, Herzog-Anton-Ulrich-Museum,
Verzeichnis der gemälde 1969, no. 113 (as Seghers); Bienecke C20 (as
Seghers).
4 Oil on canvas, 96 x 122, New York, Metropolitan Museum. See Puyvelde,
le Banquet d’Acheloüs par Rubens, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Février 1964,
pp. 93–98. [End]

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Gerard Seghers | Gudarnas måltid i en grotta vid havsstranden | Nationalmuseum

Gerard Seghers | Feast of the Gods/Banquet of Acheloüs | Nationalmuseum

Titel (sv): Gudarnas måltid i en grotta vid havsstranden
Titel (en): Feast of the Gods/Banquet of Acheloüs
Tidigare: Feast of the Gods in a Cave near the Sea Shore

Title (sv): Gudarnas måltid i en grotta vid havsstranden
Title (en): Feast of the Gods/Banquet of Acheloüs
Previous: Feast of the Gods in a Cave near the Sea Shore