Lot 163: Isaack Luttichuys , London 1616 - 1673 Amsterdam Portrait of Andries Winius the Elder, standing three quarter length, holding a pair of dividers and with his left hand resting on a map of Russia, a celestial globe behind; Portrait of his wife,

a pair, both oil on canvas Quantity: 2

measurements note each: 127.5 by 102 cm.; 50 1/4 by 40 1/8 in.

St. Petersburg, Academy of Arts, 1731 (according to an old label on the reverse);
Bremen, Galerie Neuse, Masterpieces of the painting from 16. to 18. Century, 2007.

W.R. Valentier, "Isaac Luttichuys: A Little Known Dutch Portrait Painter", in Art Quarterly, 1938, cat. nos. 28 & 29, the latter reproduced p. 163, fig. 11;
Masterpieces of painting from 16. to 18. Century, Bremen 2007, pp. 44-45, reproduced in colour pp. 42-43.

Princess Anastasia Trubetzkoy (1705-1755);
Prince Alexius Dolgoruckij;
By whom sold to Alexander Grafen von Bruce, St. Petersburg, in 1747;
Princes of Reuss, Germany;
Lords of Hornberg, Germany, (all of the above according to old labels and stamps on the reverse);
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Muller, 20 November 1910, lot 85;
Lady Trevelyan, Welcombe, Stratford-on-Avon;
Her deceased sale, London, Christie's, 1 June 1928, lot 87, for £325-10 to De Casseres;
Anonymous sale, Brussels, Fievez, 10 December 1928, lot 37.

Andreas Deonyszoon Winius (1605-after 1654) and his wife Geertrud van Rijn (1611-date unknown) were both born in Amsterdam, married in 1628 and emigrated to Russia only four years later, in 1632. Winius built up a great reputation and fortune in Russia through his windmill-driven canon foundries. In 1654, Winius returned to Amsterdam for a short period as a representative of Tsar Alexis but was back in Moscow soon after. In around 1653 he went back to the Netherlands to buy weapons and enlist people into the service of his sovereign. The Great Bear on the celestial globe behind Winius may be intended here not only as an astronomical image, but also as a symbolic reference to the Russian Empire. These portraits were almost certainly taken to Russia by Winius and his wife and eventually found their way into the collection of Princess Anastasia Trubetzkoy in the early 18th century (see Provenance).

We are grateful to Dr. Bernd Ebert for endorsing the attribution to Luttichuys on the basis of photographs. Dr. Ebert will be including these paintings in his upcoming monograph on Luttichuys which will be published in September 2008.