[Entourage de Cornelis van DALEM (Anvers c. 1530-Breda 1573) et Jan van WECHELEN (actif à Anvers c.1530-1550)].

Lot 16
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20000 - 25000 EUR
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Result : 34 900EUR
[Entourage de Cornelis van DALEM (Anvers c. 1530-Breda 1573) et Jan van WECHELEN (actif à Anvers c.1530-1550)].
The Legend of the Baker of Eeklo. Second half of the 16th century. Oil on panel (49 x 66 cm). Restorations. Men with cabbage heads. The painting depicts the legend of the baker of Eeklo, popular in the Netherlands in the 16th century. According to it, those who were dissatisfied with their appearance or who wanted to reverse the effects of time, went to the West Flemish town of Eeklo to have a new head made by the baker. Above his portrait, books and containers emphasize his medical skills. The scene describes the operations to be performed by the assistants, who are bare-chested or just dressed in a white cloth. The heads of the "patients" are cut off, separated from the trunk, rubbed with a magic oil, placed on a multi-level tray and then placed in an oven. Meanwhile, a green cabbage, a symbol of fertility since antiquity, replaced the decapitated head. Once the new head was baked, it was sewn back onto the body. This painting illustrates the proverb "Big head, little sense", paraphrasing Petronius (Fragments, 40), and serves as a warning to those who would not be satisfied with their appearance. A dozen versions with different compositions attest to the story's popularity. The best known is a small panel in the Muiderslot. Others can be found in the museums of Leipzig and Turin, Sabauda and the engraving by Frederik Bouttats the Younger, which made it widely known. The background is also represented in a gallery interior by David Teniers the Elder (see E. Duverger, H. Vlieghe, David Teniers der Aeltere, Utrecht 1971, fig. 47).
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