59. Artus Wolffort (Anvers 1581-1641) Saint Jean évangéliste tenant un calice huile sur panneau oil on panel 64.4 x 49.2cm (25 3/8 x 19 3/8in). Provenance: Sale, Christie's, London, 17 May 1968, lot 3 (as Jordaens); With Diaz & Arnau, Madrid, 1988 Formerly given to the Circle of Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678) in 1968 (see Provenance), the present painting can now be attributed to the Flemish artist, Artus Wolffort, whose works were not well known until the late 1970s. Often considered to be early works by Rubens or Jordaens, his oeuvre was reconstructed based on a fully signed work (Esther's Toilet in the Harem of Ahasuerus, original untraced, ten copies of which one fully signed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London). Often conceived as part of a series, Wolffort made numerous works of this single-figure type and depicting Apostles, Evangelists or Prophets. In one such series, now at the Museo del Prado, Madrid, the artist painted a similar figure Saint John the Evangelist (inv. P001938). We are grateful to Dr Hans Vlieghe for confirming the attribution to Wolffort on the basis of a colour photograph and for suggesting a date of the 1620s or earlier.