OLD MASTER 17TH CENTURY - Ascension of the Prophet Elijah, oil on canvas.

Expansive river landscape with the fiery ascension of the prophet Elias and a Carmelite monk, signed lower left "A.Cuyp", image dimensions approx. 39 x 46.5 cm, black lacquer frame with damage, frame approx. 48 x 55 cm - the Catholic order of the Carmelites sees the prophet Elias as its spiritual father and traditional founder. When in the 17th century The Brussels-based Bollandist Society (Société des Bollandistes), which had set itself the task of collecting sources on all church saints in a critical-historical form, reported doubts about the Carmelite origin story, this led to a bitter dispute with the order that lasted for years was carried out with great publicity on both sides. The present painting was probably created in the course of this “feud”, which was not ended until 1698 by papal order.