Lot 47: Nicolaas Verkolje , Delft 1673 - 1746 Amsterdam Dido and Aeneas oil on panel

oil on panel

measurements note 23 3/4 by 31 1/8 in.; 60.3 by 79 cm.

Dido and Aeneas appears to be a smaller variant in reverse of Nicolaas Verkolje's painting of the same subject in The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California (inv. no. 71.PA.66). Both the present picture and the Getty version reveal the strong influence that Gérard de Lairesse and Adriaen van der Werff had on Verkolje's style. In fact, the Getty painting was, until the museum purchased the picture in 1971(London, Sotheby's, December 8, 1971, lot 93) considered to be by de Lairesse.υ1 1. See, A. Roy, Gérard de Lairesse (1640-1711), Paris 1992, pp. 501-502, cat. no. P.R. 30, p. 502, reproduced. Roy, however, mistakenly writes that the Getty has attributed Dido and Aeneas to Jan Verkolje; the picture has actually been given to Nicolaas, Jan's son.