Lot 56: *EMANUEL DE WITTE (CIRCA 1617-1691/2)

oil on canvas We are grateful to Marijke C. de Kinkelder of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague who, based on photographs, has confirmed the present painting to be a work by de Witte. I. Manke (see Literature below) had never seen the present painting and only knew it through a very old and faded photograph when she published her monograph on de Witte. The present painting belongs to a select group of works produced by de Witte for his Catholic patrons living in the Netherlands. This is attested to by both the architecture of the Church and the presence of a crucifix in the composition. A similar composition by de Witte was sold in these rooms from the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation May 28, 1999, lot 8 (Manke, no. 149, see Literature below). Two other similar paintings are in the Landesgalerie, Hannover (Manke, no. 153) and the Wellesley College Museum, Wellesley, Massachusetts (Manke, no. 287).

A. Kay, Edinburgh Sir John and Lady Leslie, England With Koetser Gallery, New York, from whom purchased by the present collector in 1944