Currently on View in C208
Image Licensing
In 1618, Peter Paul Rubens referred to the young Anthony van Dyck as "the best of my pupils." This painting, which may have been created as early as 1617, when the artist was only 18 years old, provides a clear demonstration of Van Dyck's remarkably precocious talent. He was already a master of Rubens's epic baroque style, seen in the muscular figure who stoops to cast a branch in Christ's path. The coarse realism of this figure and his companions, together with the crowded restlessness of the composition, are hallmarks of Van Dyck's youthful style.
Dr. Paul Mersch [1859-?], Paris, France;{1}
Sale at (Keller & Reiner, Berlin, Germany) in 1905.{2}
Rudolf Kohtz, Berlin, by 1909.{3}
Paal Kaasen [1883-1964], Christiania (today Oslo), Norway, by 1924;{4}
Purchased by (P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London, England) through an unidentified intermediary;{5}
Purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Herman C. Krannert, Indianapolis, Indiana;
Given to the John Herron Art Institute, now the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, in 1958 (58.3).
-------
{1} Paul Mersch was the vice-consul of Luxembourg, residing in Paris, and son-in-law of the art dealer Charles Sedelmeyer [1837-1925], Paris. It remains unknown if he obtained this painting with Sedelmeyer's assistance. On Mersch, see the online publication of Biographie nationale du pays de Luxembourg, fasc. 19, p. 216 available at www.luxemburgensia.bnl.lu
{2} See Katalog der Sammlung Dr. Paul Mersch, Paris: II. Teil, Keller & Reiner, 27-28 November 1905, lot 31, pl. 1.
{3} Kohtz is given as the owner in Emil Schaeffer, Van Dyck, des Meisters Gemälde, (Klassiker der Kunst series) Stuttgart, 1909.
{4} See the photocopy of a letter to Paal Kaasen from Gustav Pauli of the Kunsthalle Hamburg, dated 25 September 1924, in the IMA Historical File (58.3), stating that the painting had been on loan to Hamburg for several years. See David G. Carter's article, "Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem," Bulletin John Herron Art Institute Indianapolis, volume 45 (1958), p.23, footnote 1, for additional details on the provenance of the painting.
{5} See a letter from Colnaghi & Co. to David Carter, dated 23 May 1958, in IMA Historical File (58.3).