Lot 30: THE PROPERTY OF A BELGIAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR DIRCK DIRCKSZ. SANTVOORT AMSTERDAM CIRCA 1610 - 1680 A

THE PROPERTY OF A BELGIAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR DIRCK DIRCKSZ. SANTVOORT AMSTERDAM CIRCA 1610 - 1680 A PORTRAIT OF ELIAS VAN CUELEN (C.1585-AFTER 1652), SEATED THREE-QUARTER LENGTH, WEARING A BLACK COAT WITH WHITE CUFFS AND COLLAR AND A HAT, HOLDING GLOVES IN HIS LEFT HAND

signed and dated centre right: D D Santvoort fe/1643 and charged with or bears the coat-of-arms of the family Van Collen (the later Van Cuelen) upper right

oil on panel

PROVENANCE

J. F. Du Sart, Brussels;
His sale, Brussels, Galerie Saint-Luc, 26-28 June 1884, lot 131, sold to Dusart (for 720 belgium francs, according to a label on the reverse);
By descent to the present owner since 1884.
CATALOGUE NOTE

The reverse of the panel bears an inscription: E^s. ... an Coll..n., together with an old inventory number: 7.

This is an important addition to the oeuvre of the Amsterdam portrait painter Dirck Dircksz. Santvoort. From around 1630 onwards the rapidly growing prosperity of Amsterdam created a strong demand for portraits and a profitable practice for specialist portrait painters such as Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy and Thomas de Keyser, and of course, Rembrandt. In around 1635 Santvoort started as an independent portrait painter in his typical sober style. At that time he also became the foremost Amsterdam painter of childrens' portraits. Although he lived to be nearly seventy years old, Santvoort's painting career, though prolific, only covers a period of about 10 years, from 1635 until 1645, when he seems to have given up painting altogether, since no later dated works by him are known.

The sitter, Elias van Cuelen (Dordrecht c.1585-after 1652), was an important Dutch Reformed merchant, who was first married to Jannetje Kemps, daughter of Ambrosius Kemp and family of sergeant Artus Kemp, who died in 1612 in Amsterdam. The latter is portrayed to the right on Rembrandt's Nachtwacht of 1642. In 1613 Van Cuelen remarried with Susanna Pijnappel (1585-1652), a cousin of his first wife. They lived on the Oudezijds Achterburgwal where they were recorded as late as 1652. Their opposite neighbour was Dirck Dircksz. Santvoort, who moved after his marriage in 1641 to the Anthonis Breestraat, where he painted this portrait of his former neighbour at the age of 58.

A pair of portraits, attributed to Santvoort and showing the same sitter, Elias van Cuelen and presumably his second wife, were sold Paris, Tajan, 22 June 1999, lot 50 (as attributed to Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy, and of Mr and Mrs Élias van Collen Punappen, sic.). There are some small differences in the coat and chair, otherwise the male portrait is identical to the present work.

We are grateful to Mr S.A.C. Dudok van Heel for his help in cataloguing this lot.

118.6 by 89 cm.