Ever since its acquisition in 1906, the authorship of this striking painting has been the subject of intense debate. Like many paintings made in seventeenth-century Antwerp, it is clearly the work of two artists, one a specialist in the human body, and the other in still life painting. Recent conservation of the picture has supported attribution of the two male figures, with their craggy, bearded faces and powerful physiques, to the young Anthony van Dyck. These two men are tritons, or mermen, carrying an enticing array of seafood to the banquet glimpsed in the background on the left.
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Title:Two Tritons at the Feast of Acheloüs
Artist:Attributed to Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, Antwerp 1599–1641 London)
Artist: and Attributed to Frans Snyders (Flemish, Antwerp 1579–1657 Antwerp)
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:62 3/4 x 45 7/8 in. (159.4 x 116.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Marquand Fund, 1906
Object Number:06.1039
Rarely on view and never cleaned since its acquisition in 1906, this painting has undergone recent technical examination and conservation treatment. Removal of old restorations and an extremely thick and discolored varnish has restored the original modelling of the figure, the sense of spatial recession, and details of the still life that are crucial to an understanding of the painting. The treatment has also recaptured the legibility of the mythological feast scene in the background. Technical imaging including x-radiography, infrared reflectography, and x-ray fluorescence mapping have helped to understand the technique of the artist who painted the figures in particular. In addition, these images have enhanced the legibility of intriguing underlying painted sketches which do not relate to the final composition.
Monsieur Coupée [or Coupe], Brussels (until 1906; sold to The Met)
Hempstead, N. Y. Hofstra College. "Metropolitan Museum Masterpieces," June 26–September 1, 1952, no. 5.
Roger Fry. Letters. January–March 1906 [published in Ref. Sutton 1972, vol. 1, letter no. 173, p. 251], writes "I hope to get the Rubens [for the Museum]".
Max Rooses. Letter to Roger Fry. February 9, 1906, suggests that it was painted by Van Dyck as Rubens's assistant.
[Roger Fry]. "Principal Accessions." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 1 (November 1906), p. 153, notes its original attribution to Rubens, but suggests that it was painted by Van Dyck in Genoa; refers to a "vague tradition" identifying the central figure as a member of the Doria family; erroneously records its purchase as through the Rogers Fund.
Roger Fry. Letter to his wife, Helen Fry. January 14, 1906 [published in Ref. Sutton 1972, vol. 1, letter no. 168, p. 248], writes that "the great find is the Rubens, a superb 'Neptune' of the Italian period".
Roger Fry. Letter to John G. Johnson. May 21, 1906 [published in Ref. Sutton 1972, vol. 1, letter no. 190, p. 264], writes "[I] have acquired what I think is a very magnificent picture of Neptune, attributed to Rubens, but in my mind certainly a Van Dyck".
Roger Fry. Letter. December 17, 1908, as by Van Dyck; thinks it represents a member of the Doria family.
Julius S. Held. "Achelous' Banquet." Art Quarterly 4 (Spring 1941), p. 133 n. 8, as by a Flemish follower of Van Dyck; notes that "the main figure appears to be a portrait".
Harry B. Wehle. "The Feast of Acheloüs by Rubens." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 4 (March 1946), p. 179.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 33, attribute it to Anthony van Dyck and Frans Snyders.
Denys Sutton, ed. Letters of Roger Fry. New York, 1972, vol. 1, p. 248 n. 1 to letter no. 168 (January 14, 1906), p. 251 n. 3 to letter no. 173 (February 18, 1906).
Erik Larsen. L'opera completa di Van Dyck. Milan, 1980, vol. 2, p. 132, no. A67, ill., attributes it to Snyders and a pupil of Van Dyck.
Hans Vlieghe. Letter to Walter Liedtke. March 12, 1981, tentatively accepts the attribution to Snyders, but feels that the figure is closer in style to Jan van den Hoecke than to Cornelis de Vos.
Julius S. Held. Letter to Walter Liedtke. 1981, tentatively identifies the central figure as Achelous, but states that it is also a portrait of the Antwerp fishmonger who appears in the "Fish Market" of Frans Snyders and Cornelis de Vos (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna); questions, however, the attribution of the figure in the MMA canvas to de Vos.
Hella Robels. Letter to Walter Liedtke. March 26, 1981, states that while the still life certainly derives from Snyders, she questions an attribution of the fish to Snyders himself.
Walter A. Liedtke. Flemish Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1984, vol. 1, pp. 275–78; vol. 2, pl. 108, observes that "the still life certainly seems of sufficient quality to be attributed tentatively to Snyders," and that "the case for de Vos . . . as the author of the figures is equally strong".
Walter A. Liedtke. "Flemish Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum—II: Van Dyck, Jordaens, Brouwer, and Others." Tableau 6 (February 15, 1984), pp. 32, 34, fig. 16.
John Pope-Hennessy. "Roger Fry and The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Oxford, China, and Italy: Writings in Honour of Sir Harold Acton on his Eightieth Birthday. Ed. Edward Chaney and Neil Ritchie. London, 1984, p. 233, notes that Fry originally believed this picture to be a Rubens but then published it as an Italian Van Dyck.
Erik Larsen. The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck. Freren, Germany, 1988, vol. 2, p. 426, no. A45, ill.
Introduction by Walter A. Liedtke inFlemish Paintings in America: A Survey of Early Netherlandish and Flemish Paintings in the Public Collections of North America. Antwerp, 1992, pp. 23, 374, no. 489, ill.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 283, ill.
Walter Liedtke. "Toward a New Edition of Flemish Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Munuscula Amicorum: Contributions on Rubens and His Colleagues in Honour of Hans Vlieghe. Ed. Katlijne van der Stighelen. Vol. 2, Turnhout, Belgium, 2006, pp. 665, 669, 677 n. 4, fig. 2.
Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, Antwerp 1599–1641 London)
early 17th century
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