Remarks:
Painted on two sides, the verso with St. Benedict visiting his sister, Saint Scolastica, depicted in front of a monastery. The painting can be connected with the workshop of Jan II van Coninxloo, and with a group of paintings depicting scenes from the life of S. Benedict which come from the abbey of Vorst (Forest) near Bruxelles, and of which two panels are now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles. The panel here presented is the only one with a topographical view, possibly that of the old abbey before the baroque restauration. We are gratefull to Dr. Cecilia Engellau-Gullander who suggested the attribution, and to P. Bernard Lorent O.S.B. who identified the iconography and first suggested the link with the paintings in Bruxelles.
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