STALBEMT, Adriaen van

Art cabinets belong to the Flemish tradition of “Kunstkamers” (Cabinets of Curiosities) paintings. This genre appeared in Antwerp at the beginning of the 17th century and included paintings of interiors covered in works of art. In fact, it is relatively common to see these paintings portraying collections that actually existed. The artists also liked to depict fictitious cabinets, the fruit of their imagination, which could be based on portrayals of paintings, sculptures and exotic objects belonging to the various collections in Antwerp. These art cabinets were metaphors for know-how, taste and knowledge. The present painting belongs to this category.

There are four other very similar versions of this emblematic work: one belongs to a private Italian collection, another is kept at the Prado in Madrid, a third one, which involves a collaboration with Jan ‘Velvet’ Brueghel for the figures of Albert and Isabella, is in Baltimore, and the last one belongs to the royal collections of England.

A solid-wood sideboard occupies the right-hand side and albums of engravings, maritime maps, medals, shells, a compass, a ruler as well as a globe lie higgledy-piggledy on a large table.

Ovid describes at length (Met. 3:138-253) how the young prince Actaeon, hunting in the forest, stumbled accidentally upon the grotto where Diana and her companion were bathing. To punish him for the glimpse of divine nudity, the goddess turned him into a stag. He was pursued and torn to pieces by his own hounds.

This story is set by Stalbemt in a wooded landscape.

The painting shows the influence of Jan Brueghel the Elder in the meticulous depiction of the landscape.

Adriaen van Stalbemt was one of the Antwerp figure painters working in cabinet size. His early work consists in part of history paintings, such as Paul and Barnabas at Lystra, with a scheme of composition clearly reminiscent of Adam Elsheimer, whom he may have known through David Teniers the Elder.

The painting shoes a river landscape with a cart and hunters on a boat. Dwellings with the yellow fa�ades, characteristic of Stalbemt, are hidden behind trees.

The painting depicts the building of the tabernacle with the Israelites sewing the curtains. The tabernacle was the portable earthly dwelling place of Yahweh among the children of Israel from the time of the Exodus from Egypt through the conquering of the land of Canaan. It was built of woven layers of curtains.

The main source for the account of the construction of the tabernacle is the biblical Book of Exodus, specifically Exodus 25-31 and 35-40.

Adriaen van Stalbemt was one of the Antwerp figure painters working in cabinet size. His late works were influenced by Hendrik van Balen.

The scene in this snow-covered panoramic landscape takes place on the outskirts of a village. Seasonal workers are busy cutting wood. Trees are the subject of their attention, some of which have been felled by the wind and others by an axe. A cart pulled by two horses is awaiting its load, while a woman stoops under the weight of the trunks.