Adriaen van STALBEMT (1580–1662), attributed to - Lot 194

Adriaen van STALBEMT (1580–1662), attributed to Minerva Visiting the Nine Muses on Mount Helicon Oil on panel 49 x 69 cm (Historical restorations) Note. Adriaen van Stalbemt was a Flemish painter trained in Antwerp, a city that was one of the most active centers of European painting at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. Admitted as a master to the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp in 1610, he spent time in England working for the court of James I before returning to settle in his hometown. His work is distinguished by a dual mastery, rare for the time: he excelled in both landscape and figure painting, which allowed him to tackle mythological and allegorical subjects with ease, in which landscape and figures harmoniously intertwine. The subject of this panel, Minerva visiting the nine Muses on Mount Helicon, belongs to the mythological iconography beloved by 17th-century Flemish painters. Taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, this episode recounts the visit of Minerva, goddess of wisdom and the arts, to the Muses gathered on Mount Helicon, the sacred mountain of Boeotia renowned for its inspiring springs. The theme, particularly prized by a humanist and literate clientele, offers the painter the opportunity to depict a lush Arcadian landscape populated by graceful figures—a masterful display of virtuosity characteristic of the Flemish school.