COSTER, Adam de
(b. ca. 1586, Mechelen, d. 1643, Antwerpen)

Young Woman Holding a Distaff

c. 1630
Oil on canvas, 134 x 95 cm
Private collection

This painting depicting a young woman holding a distaff before a lit candle is emblematic of the refined and dramatic nocturnes that form the small catalogue of works by Adam de Coster. The glow of a single flame illuminates the various rich fabrics and delicate features of a young woman set against a dark background. Vivid shadows cast throughout the composition define her engaging visage as well as the patterned details of her sleeve, the tufts of fur that line her robe, and the wispy tendrils of the distaff she holds near the candle.

Formerly the painting was attributed to Gerrit von Honthorst and Matthias Stom, which for centuries acted as a pendant pair to Matthias Stom's Cavalier lighting a pipe from an oil lamp (private collection) while both paintings hung in the Palazzo Galati in Palermo.




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