Diogenes meets Alexander the Great, Antwerp 1600-1650

Oil on oak. A lesson in ascetism. Alexander the Great, in his time the most powerful man in the western world whose reign extended from Greece over Persia to the borders of China and India including Afghanistan, had heard of the wisdom of the cynical ascetic Diogenes, who had abandoned all material goods and lived in a wooden barrel. When Alexander asked Diogenes if he could do anything for him, Diogenes replied “Yes, please step aside, you are standing in my sun”.
This scene, written down by Plutarch, was quite popular in Renaissance iconography.
This rather large panel bears two significant marks on its back: the first one is from the Antwerp panel maker Guilliam Gabron (active from 1609 – year in which he acquired his ‘mastership’ - until 1662) and the second is two hands, official quality mark from the city of Antwerp.
The mark of Guilliam Gabron was registered as a double ‘G’ on November 13th 1617 by the St. Lucas guild in Antwerp (Fig 1 in “De Antwerpse Tafereelmakers en hun Merken: Identificatie en Betekenis”). He also used the double ‘G’ with a floral motif in between (as on our panel). This mark with the floral motif can be found on panels in Mauritshuis, Den Haag (illustrated in Getty Museum article ‘The History of Panel-Making Techniques part two’ p. 165 fig 23) and Staaten Museum (Copenhagen). According to the Getty museum article p. 171 Note 32 “His device of inter- linking the two Gs in the monogram with a small four-leafed flower was already in use before he registered on the act of 1617, where he used only the two Gs.”.
The mark of Gabron can be found on panels that were painted by Frans II Francken (1581-1642), Willem van Nieulandt (1581-1636), Jacob van Es (active 1617-1666) and others (“De Antwerpse Tafereelmakers en hun Merken: Identificatie en Betekenis”). Unfortunately we have not been able to attribute the painting to a specific painter or workshop. Some works of Abraham Govaerts (1589-1626) show similarities.
The two oak panels have been straightened and consolidated in the back with three vertical wooden strips. The right (when looking at the front) lower corner has suffered from woodworm and bears traces of an old restoration on the back. UV analysis is difficult because of the varnish but shows some retouching in the surrounding landscape areas (not in the central scene).
Dimensions of panel: 77x32cm. Recent (20th century) frame. Excellent condition.

Bibliography:
De Antwerpse Tafereelmakers en hun merken:
Getty Museum
The Antwerp Brand on Paintings on Panel