Lot 150: A group portrait, probably of a family, making music in an interior

Jacob Duck (Utrecht 1600-1667) A group portrait, probably of a family, making music in an interior oil on panel 45.7 x 39.3 cm. with an addition of 2 cm. along the left edge

45.7 x 39.3 cm.

Katalog der Fürstlich Liechtensteinschen Bilder-Galerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau zu Wien, Vienna, 1885, p.90, no.669, as Pieter Codde (a handwritten note by Theodor von Frimmel in his personal copy of the catalogue, preserved at the RKD, The Hague reads 'vielleicht J.A. Duck'). K. Höss, Fürst Johann II. von Liechtenstein und die Bildende Kunst, Vienna, 1908, p. 31, inv. no. 669, as Pieter Codde. A. Kronfeld, Führer durch die fürstlich liechensteinische Gemäldegalerie in Wien, Vienna, 1927, no. 669, p. 128, as Pieter Codde

Collection Fürsten von Liechtenstein, Vienna, (possibly) acquired at a sale in 1826, as Pieter de Grebber. Collection Fürsten von Liechtenstein, Vaduz, from at least 1908 onwards, as Pieter Codde (also with the added strip of wood to the left edge); Collection Fürsten von Liechtenstein, Vienna, from at least 1927 until sold in 1954, as Pieter Codde (also with the added strip of wood to the left edge). 1

Four men and two women have gathered and idle their time in making music. A seated woman sings from a booklet while a young violinist behind her joins in, beating time with his raised hand. The couple in the centre also sings from sheet music, but the young man who accompanies them on his viola da gamba knows his part by heart. All figures face the viewer and their physiognomies are quite carefully characterized, all of which seems to indicate that the scene is actually a group portrait, probably of a family. In that case, the present work is the only extant portrait by Duck. The artist is likely to have executed more portraits since he is listed as an apprentice portrait painter in 1621 in the guild records, when he was still in training with the Utrecht artist Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot. Family portraits in which family members play music, first started to appear in the Southern Netherlands in the second half of the sixteenth century and the more genre-like type was taken up in the 1620s and 1630s in Haarlem, a town that maintained strong bonds with Antwerp. Well-known examples are Jan Miense Molenaer's Self-portrait with family members making music in the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem of around 1635 and his Musical Party, in Richmond, Virginia of 1633. The late Walter Liedtke emphasized that as with Molenaer's family portraits "the music indicates family harmony" in Duck's composition (written communication, 11 October 2014). The dress of the figures in Duck's painting point also to a similar date, in the 1630s, making it an early production. The inconsistent scale of the figures and the compositionally haphazard impression of the group of figures, are intentional and hallmarks of Duck's early style.2 This lot formed part of the famous collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein. The painting entered the collection of Prince Johann I von Liechtenstein (1760-1836) in 1826 and was sold in 1954 under Franz Joseph II (1906-1989).3 We are grateful to Dr. Jochai Rosen of the University of Haifa, for confirming the attribution after inspection of the original painting on 17 February 2015, and for pointing out the characteristics of the artist. The present lot will be included in Mr. Rosen’s forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Jacob Duck as no. 153 and dating to circa 1635-40. 1 According to e-mail correspondence with the Liechtenstein Museum, dated 5 April 2006, the painting was acquired at a Goldmann sale in 1826. However, there is no sale of a collector with that name in or around 1826. 2 In her monograph on Duck, Nanette Solomon writes: "Many "irregularities" in the space and figural proportions in these earlier pictures have been attributed to Duck's lack of ability in producing a logical Renaissance perspective. This naive view does not give either the artist or his public enough credit. [] these "irregularities" were visual signals and pictorial strategies that both announce the artist's presence and address his audience. They engage us in a dialogue that proposes to determine meaning and simultaneously plays with it" (see: N. Salomon, Jacob Duck and the gentrification of Dutch genre painting, Doornspijk, 1998, p. 137). 3 The painting was attributed to Pieter de Grebber until the connoisseur Wilhelm von Bode, who compiled the first illustrated catalogue of the Liechtenstein Collection (published in 1896) and acted as an advisor to Prince Johann II von Liechtenstein (1840-1929), reattributed it to Pieter Codde, whose tonal genre scenes indeed have much in common with Jacob Duck.