Lot 121: JAN STOLKER (Amsterdam 1724-1785 Rotterdam)

Eight portraits, all small bust-length, of Hendrick Dubbels (1620-1676) after Ludolf Bakhuyzen, Mattheus G*** (active c.1500), Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (c. 1466-1536), Joachim Beuckelaer (c.1530-1573), Wendel Dieterlyn (?), Gillis Mostert (c.1534-1598), Albert van Ouwater (active 1450) and Jan van Calcar (1499-c.1550) -- en grisaille the first inscribed 'L:Bakhuyze/del:' ( recto, center left); each inscribed with the name of the sitter and some distinctly inscribed with the Jan van Stolker studio sale catalogue number ( verso ) oil on copper, oval 4 x 31/4 in. (10.2 x 8.2 cm.) eight (8) PROVENANCE J. Stolker; studio sale, Holysteyn, Rotterdam, 27 March 1786 and following days (unsold fl.800). Anon. Sale, New York, circa 1945 (see Benisovich, loc. cit. ). LITERATURE R. van Eijnden and A. van del Willigen, Geschiedenis der Vaderlandsche Schilderkunst, Amsterdam, 1816, II, pp. 183 and 185. G.K. Nagler, Neues allgemeines Knstler Lexicon, Leipzig, 1847, XVII, p. 398F. Muller, Beschrijvende Catalogus van 7000 portretten van Nederlanders, Amsterdam, 1853, p. XXXVII. C. Kramm, De Levens en werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche Kunstschilders, Beeldhouwers, Graveurs en Bouwmeesters, Amsterdam, 1861, V, p. 1576. F. Thieme and U. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Knstler, Leipzig, XXXII, p. 104. M.N. Benisovich, 'Notes sur Jan Stolker', Oud Holland, Amsterdam, LXI, 1946, p. 192. U. Middendorf, Hendrick Jacobsz. Dubbels (1621-1707), Freren, 1989, the portrait of Dubbels illustrated as the frontispiece. Exhibition catalogue, Jan Stolker (1724-1785): een herontdekte bundel tekeningen, Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1994, p. 1. NOTES These eight portraits belong to a series of one hundred and fifty five portraits that were originally set in a cabinet offered for sale at the auction held at the artist's house in Rotterdam two years after his death. The cabinet was unsold and remained with the artist's descendants. Benisovich ( loc. cit. ) notes that the portraits were dispersed in New York during the 1940s. A group of twenty was offered at Christie's, Amsterdam, 10 November 1997, lot 153. The inspiration for the series probably came from Arnoud van Halen (1673-1732) who, in the first decade of the eighteenth century, painted a series of portraits of Dutch poets, called Panpoeticon Batavum (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Inv. nos. A1738-A4626). SALESROOM NOTICE Please note the eight compositions are unframed.