Ignatius before his church

At Tajan, 25 March 2015, they sell a portrait of Ignatius of Loyola (?) before the Virgin, attributed to the 17th century Antwerp School, estimated at 4,000 to 6,000 Euro. I don't expect the image to exceed that estimate, if it even makes so much, as it isn't the most attractive (it almost looks like three or four works put together, with the tower to the right not integrated in either the landscape or the foreground, the Virgin painted in a style vaguely reminiscent of Early Netherlandish painting, Ignatius painted more modern but less accomplished, the background wall boring and unrealistic, but some nice flowers on the floor...

Then why this blog post? Well, the rather detailed depiction of the tower on the right drew my attention. It is the tower of the Carolus Borromeus church in the center of Antwerp, a church well known to all Rubens lovers as he painted the ceilings and probably designed elements of the church as well. Sadly, the ceiling paintings were lost after a fire, and most of the other artwork in the church was painted at the time of the French Revolution.

What I didn't get was why Ignatius of Loyola was depicted together with the Borromeus church tower, but it turns out that it originally wasn't a Carolus Borromeus church, but a church dedicated to Ignatius (also the patron saint of the nearby university).

So this painting was originally either inside the church, or for someone closely associated with it (the parish priest or something similar).

I contacted the people currently curating the artwork of the Church and its museum, as it would be great if they could again acquire this. No idea if they are interested and/or have the means to do this though.

UPDATE: not sold, again for sale at Tajan on 15 October 2015 with a revised estimate of 3,000 to 5,000 Euro.

UPDATE 2: this time sold for 7,150 Euro, which is even more than the original estimate! Someone missed out on a bargain 6 months ago. I wonder if the buyer has read my blog :-)