Lot 141: Hendrick Carré , Amsterdam 1656 - 1721 The Hague A bedroom interior with an ill lady and a doctor, other figures in the background oil on canvas

indistinctly signed, inscribed and dated centre right: hier baet geen medelijen/ want het is minnegijen/ H C.... A1681 oil on canvas

measurements note 73 by 62 cm.

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
Hendrik Carré was the son and pupil of genre painter and etcher Franciscus Carré. After his father's death in 1669, he moved to Antwerp and became an apprentice of Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678), before he returned to the Netherlands, where he worked in Amsterdam and The Hague. Carré's small oeuvre mainly consists of depictions of half-length genre figures, but he also painted several conversation pieces, such as the one sold, London, Christie's, 14 December 2001, lot 38, and interior scenes, such as this painting.

The theme of a doctor inspecting a young woman's urine sample, traditionally indicating the woman's lovesickness or pregnancy, is made explicit in the present work by the inscription on the chair.υ1 The burning shoelace in the foreground also traditionally refers to a pregnancy. We are grateful to Dr. Marieke de Winkel for her help in cataloguing this lot.

1. The English translation of the inscription reads: no compassion needed here, since it is the pain of love