The Fall of King Nebuchadnezzar, £48,000 at Bellmans.
The painting of The Fall of King Nebuchadnezzarappeared at Bellmans (25% buyer’s premium) in Wisborough Green, on March 28. The saleroom said no information was available about the source of the work or any earlier provenance.
It had surface staining throughout with multiple layers of varnish preventing any reading under ultraviolet light. One member of the trade referred to it as covered in ‘Bisto’.
This was not the only condition issue. The 4ft 6in x 6ft 6in (1.38 x 1.99m) unframed oil on canvas had an old relining which had come away from the stretcher, leaving a separation line visible to the naked eye along the lower border. It also had scattered abrasions and areas of paint loss throughout.
Nevertheless, a number of interested parties spotted its underlying quality and clearly speculated that some careful restoration work may reveal a significant hand.
A detail of the face in The Fall of King Nebuchadnezzar, £48,000 at Bellmans.
The lot was catalogued as ‘Northern European School, 17th Century’ and the estimate was set at £1000-1500.
It was eventually pursued to £48,000 at which point it was knocked down to a European private buyer.
A detail of the hand in The Fall of King Nebuchadnezzar, £48,000 at Bellmans.
One trade source thought the visible areas of the figure and the style of trees in the background pointed to a possible connection to Italian Baroque painter Guido Reni (1575-1642).
The subject of the work relates to the Book of Daniel where the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II “was driven out of human society and ate grass like an ox. The dew fell on his body, and his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers and his nails as long as birds’ claws.”
