JW Decker, Landscape with Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac
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Landscape with Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac
Oil on panel: 88 x141 cm; signed lower right: JW Decker
Provenance :
· Coll. G de Jongh Amsterdam 1892, and by descend in the same family until 1961
· Sale Dorotheum, Wien, March 15, 1961, nr 19
· Noble Privat Coll. Wien until 2015, sold Dorotheum, Wien
· Privat Coll. Luxemburg
Datable on historical and stylistic grounds ca. 1582-90 (H. G. Franz, verbal communication, Graz 1995). Franz assumed that Decker was influenced by paintings representing the Maas river valley (1580-82) by Lucas I van Valckenborch, when the latter was painter at the court of Archduke Matthias of Austria (1557-1619), acting as governor of the rebellious (north) Netherlandish provinces, , (1579-1582) until they declared full independence ; not recognised by Philips II of Spain.
Under his authority, article 13 of the ‘Union of Utrecht’ considered freedom of religion as a locally determined issue. His brother Archduke Maximilian strongly opposed this. The Archduke Matthias travelled with his painting collection to Vienna, which constitutes a date post-quem for the presence of Valckenborch’s paintings in the Spanish Netherlands.
