Christ blessing the Children

Born in Antwerp, Hendrick van Balen enjoyed a highly successful career in a flourishing artistic centre of the early seventeenth century. Karel Van Mander records that he was the pupil of Adam van Noordt, before joining the painters’ guild in 1592-3. Shortly after, like many of his contemporaries, he travelled to Italy for an extensive period, from around 1595 to 1602, and on his return to Antwerp became part of the Guild of Romanists (Confrérie des Romanistes), whose members included Rubens and Jan Bruegel; Van Balen was Dean in 1613. It became an influential guild, giving artists access to new patrons, allowing them to maintain ties to Rome and to enhance their social standing. Van Balen ran an active workshop, at one point teaching Van Dyck, and he collaborated frequently with other artists, in particular working as a specialist figure painter with Jan Bruegel, producing cabinet pictures of mythological and religious subjects for Antwerp’s thriving and well-educated market. This fine panel shows the free brushstrokes and strong drawing that characterise his work; there is a preparatory drawing, with some variations in the background and some of the figures, for the composition in the Musée du Louvre (Werche, op. cit., II, p. 487, no. C5).