ATTRIBUTED TO FRANS FLORIS I Antwerp, Belgium (1516) / (157

Oil on panel. On the reverse, a label from the Junta Delegada de Incautacion, Proteccion y Salvamento del Tesoro Artistico (Inventory No. 15096/Provenance: CNT/Collection No. 1797), with the handwritten note: Albiz. Frans Floris was considered the most important painter of his time in Belgium. Probably trained with Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502-1550) and Lambert Lombard (1505-1566), he travelled to Italy encouraged by the latter, where he encountered the great masters of the period and developed a style that blended Italian Mannerism with a Flemish rendering, which was very well received on his return to Antwerp, where he opened a workshop and received numerous important commissions. The present work is a fine example of the painter's mature style, with an elaborate composition in which the figures interact affectionately, lending continuity to the scene, which is enlivened by a great variety of iridescent colours of Mannerist influence, blended with the descriptive naturalism of the Flemish tradition. The importance of this panel, together with the beauty and quality of the figures - some of which also appear in other works by the painter, such as the “Sagrada parentela” in the MNAHA, Luxembourg (inv. no.: 2010-064/001) - lead us to attribute the painting to the master, without ruling out the involvement of his brother Cornelis, who often assisted him with his most important commissions. Other versions survive with greater or lesser workshop involvement, such as the one in the Musee du Louvre (MNR 276). Provenance: Count of Albiz. Private collection, Madrid. Measurements: 159 x 120.5 cm