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Cardinal Borromeo distributing Charity in a Landscape with Ruins, attributed to Henry Ferguson, or Hendrick Vergazon, dated, 1700-1720, oil on canvas, 130 cm x 193 cm, Some paintings are real  Moncler Jacken Outlet conundrums, like this one that turned up in a Facebook discussion between me and some other art lovers last week. A colleague in Amsterdam, Maaike Dirkx, unearthed this intriguing, not to say baffling picture from the depths of the Rijksmuseum. I'll let Maaike describe it:

"This painting poses all sorts of intriguing questions. It shows the saint Carlo Borromeo standing in an idealised classicist landscape next to an enormous marble sarcophagus showing in relief an adoration of the shepherds. According to the Rijksmuseum this scene was based on a painting that was attributed to Raphael since c.1635. I haven't been able to find it - suggestions are appreciated!

Borromeo points to the relief while addressing two men, one of them a dean. A crippled man sits next to him in front of the sarcophagus. On the left, in the foreground, we see the Holy Family with the Christ Child riding on donkeys, accompanied by a young man. In   Moncler Jacken the centre a blind boy and a blind girl cross a stream. To the right, in the middle background, a richly dressed young mean gives alms to a group of beggars."

Flight into Egypt group. Maaike brought me in because I've spent a lot of time looking at 17th century French art. Looking at this, I could immediately detect a whole spectrum of different influences- not just French. The landscape suggests knowledge of Nicolas Poussin, as does the Holy Family (a Flight into Egypt group) also reminiscent of the master. I could also detect that this painter knew a certain genre of painting that placed ruins like sarcophagi, tombs, and objects of antique interest in a landscapes, much favoured by patrons in Poussin's circle. Known for this tendency were minor masters who imitated Poussin, like Pierre Lemaire and Pierre Patel by placing Holy Families next to antiquities, in order to show the overthrow of paganism by Christ. Something of that appears to be going on in this picture, though it's clumsily done. Why place a river god (the Tiber?) with a cross and orb over a relief of the Adoration? It's not exactly an elegant way of showing this supplanting of paganism by Christianity, unless it means something else. Back to the visual sources. Other elements like the bivouac group on the right occur in 17th century French art. Was this an 18th century French artist re-working the artistic traditions of his countrymen? How wrong can you be? Maaike again:

Of the painter, Henry Ferguson, or Vergazon, little is known, except that he was born in The Hague in 1655 or 1665 and died in Toulouse in1730. A painter named H. Ferguson is recorded in the guild http://www.jackenmonclersuisse.eu at The Hague for 1712-1719. Ferguson worked in London before 1712 where Walpole speaks of a Hendrick Vergazon, who assisted in Kneller's workshop and who painted some landscapes himself.

So, Vergazon or Ferguson, or whatever you want to call him, is mentioned in Walpole and was in the employ of the famous English portrait painter, Sir Godfrey Kneller. I'm afraid that I know nothing about English portraiture (hello Bendor), but there's tons of Kneller on the Public Catalogue Foundation website.

Adoration of the Shepherds, supposedly based after a Raphael composition known since 1635. As if all this isn't confusing enough, we have the little matter of why the artist chose to place a massive sculptural relief of the Adoration slap bang in the middle of it all! According to the Rijksmuseum, this particular scene is based on a painting that "has been attributed to Raphael since 1635." I'm still giving that matter some thought, thinking about 17th century French versions of this scene. My working theory at the moment is that this Adoration isn't by Raphael at all -that's a new one, start a debate about a Raphael attribution based on a picture in a picture! I think this is more of a "mix and match" Raphael- hell, the whole picture is mix and match- and the studied elegance of the Adoration group suggests the influence of Italian mannerism, like Parmigianino or Perino del Vaga, or the School of Fontainebleau. Relying on my visual memory, I can't recall an exact Raphael scene like this, but I'll have to do further checks.

Cardinal Borromeo and the distribution of charity. To call this picture "eclectic" is the understatement of the year. What painter would place an elegantly looking figure- who would look OK in a Kneller portrait, come to think of it- next to a group of women who look like they've strayed from a Poussin or a Le Brun composition? What mind-set could produce a picture that is structurally, thematically, on all levels, uncoordinated?