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Lot 589: Pieter Cornelisz. van Slingelandt (Leiden 1640-1691)

Est: $15,000 USD - $22,500 USD
Christie'sLondon, United KingdomJune 14, 2002

Item Overview

Description

Figures in a cottage interior oil on panel 16 1/8 x 131/4 in. (41 x 33.6 cm.) PROVENANCE Adriaan Bout; (+) sale, The Hague, 11 August 1733, lot 57 (sold 600 florins). (Probably) Count Wassenaer-Obdam, from whom acquired through Monj‚ by Willem Lormier; (+) sale, Francken, The Hague, 4 July 1763, lot 228 (sold 1400 florins). Anon. Sale; Van der Schley, Amsterdam, 17 April 1783, lot 207 (1300 florins to Viet). Henry Croese; sale, Van der Schley, Amsterdam, 18 September 1811, lot 80, 'Ce tableau d'un fini rare ga tout le m‚rite du meilleur ‚lŠve, de Gerard Douw les physionomies sont pleines d'action, le coloris est frais et naturel, on ses bonnes productions, il y a fait preuved'un grand talent, et sur tout d'une patience sans exemple, les moindres d‚tails y sont d'un fini, qui ne laisse rien desirer', retained by the vendor and re-offered; Waterham, Amsterdam, 20 July 1812, lot 51, with the same description (sold 499 florins). Claude-Joseph de Clos; (+) sale, Poultier, Paris, 18 November 1812, lot 51, 'il joint … un fini pr‚cieux et admirable une belle entente de couleur, et la plus heureuse intelligence de clair-obscur. La raret‚ des productions de Singelandt, et leur v‚ritable m‚rite, les rendent sans prix' (5,000 francs to de la Roche). M. L. LapeyriŠre; sale, Lacoste, Paris, 14 April 1817, lot 53, 'Cet ‚lŠve de G‚rard Douw a une ex‚cution encore plus finie et plus soign‚e que celle de son maŒtre' (6,300 francs to Coquille). H. Stokvisch; (+) sale, Van der Schley, Amsterdam, 22 May 1823, lot 121 (440 florins to Mensardt). Duchesse de Berry; sale, Paillet, Paris, 4 April 1837, lot 61 (sold 5462 francs). with Chevalier Henry Cousin, Paris, from whom acquired by Beriah Botfield (1807-1863), by 1848, by whom bequeathed to the Thynne family. LITERATURE J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonn‚, etc., I, London, 1829, p. 50, no. 2 'The Puppet-show Man - Collection of Mr Bout 1733'; p. 51, no.8 'Mentioned by Descamps. Collection of M. Lormier'; p. 54, no. 20 'Collection of M. de Clos, 1812, and Le Perrier, 1817'; p. 56, no. 25, 'Now in the collection of the Duchess de Berri', with incorrect measurements; supplement, 1842, p. 29, no. 15, 'The Violin Player - Exhibited in 1834 for private sale, the collection of the Duchess de Berri, at Messrs. Christie and Manson's, price 400 l '. Beriah Botfield, Catalogue of Pictures in the possession of Beriah Botfield Esq. at Norton Hall, London, 1848, pp. 48-9, 'Interior of a House in Holland, the Master seated at a table with a pipe in one hand and a jug in the other, the wife leans over the back of a chair, while a man seated opposite plays on the violin, the nurse and two children are looking in at the door, a dog on the floor'. Beriah Botfield, Catalogue of Pictures at Norton Hall, London, 1863, p. 37. C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonn‚, etc., V, London, 1913, p. 450, no. 102, 'Interior with a Violin-player and Listeners'. EXHIBITION London, Christie's, April 1833, The collection of His Late Royal Highness The Duke de Berri, for private sale, no. 97, priced at œ400. London, British Institution, 1847. Northampton, City Art Gallery, County Exhbition, 1938. NOTES We are grateful to Professor Peter Hecht who supports the attribution on the basis of a transparency. He opines that 'what can be seen of the style, but also of the very typical Van Slingelandt models (small children included), seems in perfect support of the attribution'. In these respects he compares the picture to some of the artist's finest works including the Carpenter's Family in the Royal Collection, and the Wealthy Family in the Statens Museum, Copenhagen. Professor Hecht was the first to identify the picture as that listed by Hofstede de Groot as no. 102, with a distinguished provenance stretching back to its sale from the collection of Adriaan Bout in 1733. Hofstede de Groot deemed the picture 'A capital work, with very fine drawing, spirited and natural characterisation of the figures, good light and shade, and wonderfully incisive brushwork'. The picture was similarly lauded throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, but did not meet with such acclaim when offered for private sale in an exhibition at Christie's in 1834, no doubt on account of an ill-judged restoration probably undertaken on behalf of the duc de Berry. An annotated copy of the catalogue that once belonged to J. H. Anderson, in the RKD, remarks on the introductory page that 'but not a few exhibit the bareness resulting from the French system of cleaning' and beside the entry for the present work, he noted '& certainly as fine as his master but has suffered much in the cleaning'. Another version of the present composition is recorded in the form of a picture sold at Christie's in 1849 from the collection of William Williams Hope, that Hofstede de Groot erroneously includes in the provenance for the present work. The slightly anomalous catalogue description mentions a woman and three children (rather than two) in the background.

Artist or Maker

Auction Details

PICTURES AND WATERCOLOURS FROM LONGLEAT

by
Christie's
June 14, 2002, 12:00 AM EST

8 King Street, St. James's, London, LDN, SW1Y 6QT, UK