Lot 33: Dirck van Baburen , Wijk bij Duurstede, near Utrecht circa 1594/5 - 1624 Utrecht A woman playing the lute oil on canvas

oil on canvas

measurements note 85.3 by 69.6 cm.; 33 5/8 by 27 3/8 in.

London, Robilant and Voena, French, Dutch and Flemish Caravaggesque Paintings from the Koelliker Collection, 28 November - 19 December 2007, no. 1.

Possibly L.J. Slatkes, Dirck van Baburen (c. 1595-1624; A Dutch Painter in Utrecht and Rome, Utrecht 1965, p. 140;
W. Franits in P. Rosenberg et al., French, Dutch and Flemish Caravaggesque Paintings from the Koelliker Collection, exhibition catalogue, London 2007, p. 10, no. 1, reproduced p. 11.

In the collection of a Netherlandish family since presumably the late 19th century;
By whom sold, Amsterdam, Christie's, 11 May 2005, lot 44, where acquired by the present owner.

PROPERTY FROM THE LONDON RESIDENCE OF LUIGI KOELLIKER
This picture, which has only recently come to light, is a notable addition to the relatively small oeuvre of Dirck van Baburen, one of the most talented followers of Caravaggio in the Netherlands during the first decades of the 17th century. Although he died tragically young, like his friend and contemporary Hendrick Ter Brugghen (1588-1629), Baburen established a reputation for himself that spread throughout Europe, principally due to the success of his years spent in Rome, from 1611 until circa 1620, where he completed many commissions for both important private clients such as Vincenzo Giustiniani and Cardinal Scipione Borghese, and also for many ecclesiastical patrons; his most important works from this time, executed in collaboration with David de Haen, were painted for the Pietà Chapel of S. Pietro in Montorio.

It is possible that the present work is the lost original that Leonard J. Slatkes (see literature) refers to in an entry on an awkward painting of a duet (listed under Lost works known through Copies and Prints), which repeats the composition of the present work but includes a clumsy flautist in the background. Franits (see literature) suggests that the duet listed by Slatkes is a copy after the present work, the lost original, the copyist then adding another figure, also possibly a copy, in the background.υ1 1. Of a work listed by Slatkes, under Literature, no. B5, reproduced fig. 40; it is known in many copies, the best of which sold New York, Christie's, 19 April 2006, lot 220.