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Lot description
RefMas121121 The present painting was auctioned in 1932 by Julius Stern in Düsseldorf as the work of Jacob Jordaens (see provenance). Only one year later, however, Arthur von Schneider (op. cit.) attributed it to the Utrecht painter Jan van Bijlert. Since then the whereabouts of this monumental painting has been unknown. The old illustration from the Stern catalogue however, found its way into various publications, especially into the literature on the Utrecht Caravaggists and later into the catalogue raisonné of Jan Huys Janssen where it is listed under number 107. Huys Janssen assumed the picture may have been cropped on the right side, mainly because of the blue and white striped cloth tail on the lower right which otherwise cannot be understood. It shows a shepherd playing a flute with his shoulder bare, wearing a black barrett with a feather. He has draped an animal skin over the robe emphasising the figure's closeness to nature. This is one of van Bijlert's most popular pictorial motifs, typologically connected with the pastoral ideals of the Bamboccianti, but at the same time going beyond this genre and being inspired by the great art of Italy and Caravaggio.