JUSTUS SUSTERMANS (Antwerp, 1597-Florence, 1681) VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH SAINT ANNE Rectangular canvas with oval view Old restorations Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, rectangular canvas with oval view, with restorations 73 x 56 CM - 28,7 x 22 IN. PROVENANCE Collection Prs. F. J. Fischer (according to Christie's 1988 listing) ; Collection of a museum in the American Middle West (according to the 1988 Christie's listing); Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 15 January 1988, no. 79 (A woman holding a Cupid, with a Bacchanalian Figure); Anonymous sale, Cologne, Lempertz, 18 May 1996, no. 1153 (Maria mit Kind und der Mutter Anna, painting cleaned of late repaints). EXHIBITION "Sacra e Profana. Les aspects de la femme à travers la peinture italienne du XVI au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Galerie Virginie Pitchal, 20 November - 17 December 1998 (La Vierge à l'Enfant avec Sainte Anne (portrait by Vittoria della Rovere)). A painter of Flemish origin, Sustermans trained in Paris and worked for three years with Frans Pourbus the Younger. In 1620, he moved to Florence as the Medici's official portraitist. Mina Gregori identified the features of Vittoria della Rovere (1622-1694) in the Virgin's face and confirmed the attribution to Sustermans (in 1998). Sustermans painted her allegorical portrait on several occasions, mixing the sacred and the profane: he depicted her as Saint Margaret (Florence, Pitti Palace), as Saint Helen (Florence, Conservatorio La Quieta) and as the Vestale Tuccia (Florence, Pitti Palace).