Lot 34: Gerrit Pietersz. Sweelinck (Amsterdam 1566-c. 1612)

Perseus and Andromeda
oil on panel
16 x 12 1/2 in. (40.5 x 31.7 cm.)

B. Nicolson, 'Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions', Burlington Magazine, 105, May 1963, p. 227, fig. 40.
E. J. Sluijter, De 'Heydensche Fabulen' in de Noordnederlandse schilderkunst, circa 1590-1670: een proeve van beschrijving en interpretatie van schilderijen met verhalende onderwerpen uit de klassieke mythologie, Ph. D. diss., Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden, Leiden, 1986, p. 49, n. 49.1, as 'perhaps by Gerrit Pietersz.'.
P. J. J. van Thiel, Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem: 1562-1638, Doornspijk, 1999, p. 489.

with C. Marshall Spink, London, 1963, as 'Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem'.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 29 June 1966, lot 18, as 'Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem.'

The history painter and portraitist Gerrit Pietersz. Sweelinck was born into an artistic family in Amsterdam (his brother, Jan, was a famed organist and composer). According to van Mander, Sweelinck studied with Jan Lenartsz. before beginning his apprenticeship with Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem in 1590. Sweelinck traveled to Antwerp and Rome around 1594-5, after which he returned to Amsterdam where he remained until his death in 1612. His most famous pupil was Pieter Lastman.

Sweelinck's style is very close to that of van Haarlem and their works have often been confused, as has been the case with Perseus and Andromeda. A similar composition by van Mander is recorded in an engraving by Jacques de Gheyn (Hollstein, IV, no. 422). Both give prominence to Andromeda's parents and the on-lookers by placing them in the foreground, relegating Perseus and Andromeda to the middle ground.

We are grateful to Christina J. A. Wansink of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague, for confirming the present attribution to Sweelinck (written communication, 19 February 1997).