Judas betraying Christ
1665 - 1670. Oil on canvas.Not on display
This Judas betraying Christ, from the Duke of Pastrana`s collection, is a version on canvas of an original signed panel (47.5 x 40 cm) formerly in the Duke of Bouillon`s collection, and later, according to Hofstede de Groot and Behermann, part of the Tronchin collection, where it is recorded until 1928. Loche and Behermann also refer to another version on canvas in the Eynard collection in Geneva (55.5 x 47.3 cm), which Loche considers an original but Beherman catalogues as a copy.
The original size of the Prado canvas, before it was transferred to a new stretcher, coincides with the version in the Eynard collection. Given that infra-red reflectography fails to reveal any underdrawing, it could possibly be a studio copy. In the Prado picture there are only seven coins on the table, rather than the thirty that appear in the Geneva version. The compositional structure and the different iconographic elements would appear to be influenced by Gerard Dou`s The Night School (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum).
Posada Kubissa, Teresa, Pintura holandesa en el Museo Nacional del Prado. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2009, p.130-131
