RKD STUDIES

Peter Paul Rubens DPG40AB

... slate, 425 x 280 cm. Santa Maria in Vallicella, Rome.615d.III) (modello for 5d.IV) Peter Paul Rubens, Madonna della Vallicella adored by Angels, April–May 1608, canvas, 86 x 57 cm. Gemäldegalerie der Akademie, Vienna, 629.625d.IV) Peter Paul Rubens, Madonna della Vallicella adored by Angels, 1608, slate, 425 x 250 cm. Santa Maria in Vallicella, Rome.636a) (modello for 6b) Peter Paul Rubens, The Real Presence in the Holy Sacrament, panel, c. 65 x 50 cm. Present whereabouts unknown; presumably lost.646b) Peter Paul Rubens, The Real Presence in the Holy Sacrament, c. 1609, panel, 309 x 241.5 cm. St Paul, Antwerp [5].656c) (after nos 6a, 6b and ?DPG40A and ?DPG40B) (Attributed to) Jan de Bisschop, The Real Presence in the Holy Sacrament, c. 1660–70, drawing, c. 730 x 480 mm. Present whereabouts unknown (Ludwig Burchard collection; G. de Leval collection, Brussels; 1978: John P. Hardy collection; photo copyright IRPA-KIK, Brussels) [6].666d) (after nos 6a, 6b, and ?DPG40A and ?DPG40B) (Attributed to) Jan de Bisschop, after Rubens, The Real Presence in the Holy Sacrament, black chalk, brush in brown, with brown wash, 365 x 497 mm. Albertina, Vienna, 15103 [7].677a) (modello for 7b) Peter Paul Rubens, Scenes from the Life of Count Allowin (later St Bavo) or The Conversion of St Bavo, 1611–12, oak panel, 107 x 82 cm (central panel), 107 x 41 cm (each wing). NG, London, NG57.1–3.687b) Peter Paul Rubens, The Conversion of St Bavo, 1624, canvas, 475 x 280 cm (arched at the top). St Bavo, Ghent.69Female saints8a) (study for 4a.I) Peter Paul Rubens, Bust of St Domitilla, 1606–7, paper mounted on panel, 88.5 x 67.5 cm (originally 88.5 x 61 cm). Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti, Bergamo, 447.708) . (attributed to) Peter Paul Rubens, St Catherine in the Clouds, c. 1620–30, signed P. Paul Rubens fecit, etching and engraving, 293 x 198 mm. BM, London, R,4.45.718c) Schelte Adamsz. Bolswert after Rubens, Sancta Catharina Virgo et Martyr, inscriptions, engraving, 382 (trimmed) x 240 mm. BM, London, R,4.44.728d.I) Roman, The Townley Caryatid, c. 140–160, Pentelic marble, h. 220 cm. BM, London, 1805,0703.44.738d.II) After Peter Paul Rubens (original drawing lost), Caryatid, Latin inscriptions, black chalk on white paper, 330 x 227 mm (larger Talman album, fol. 187, no. 76). Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.748d.III) (grisaille) Peter Paul Rubens, Two Guardian Angels on the outer wings of the Resurrection Triptych (Triptych for Jan Moretus I and Martina Plantijn), 1611–12, panel, 185 x 47.7 cm (each). Antwerp Cathedral.75Male saints9a) Style of Peter Paul Rubens, St Augustine (?), panel, 38 x 17 cm. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, A 154.769b) After Peter Paul Rubens, Head of St Amand, after c. 1610, black, red and white chalk, washed with brown ink, white heightening on violet paper, 326 x 202 mm. Ecclesiastical collection, Austria.779c) Peter Paul Rubens, St Thomas (part of a series of twelve Apostles: Apostelada Lerma), 1610–12, panel, 108 x 83 cm. Prado, Madrid, 1654.78Older masters10a) Polidoro da Caravaggio or Peter de Kempeneer, retouched by Rubens, St Paul the Apostle, inscriptions, pen and ink with some white heightening and squared for transfer in black chalk, retouched with brown wash and cream and white bodycolour, on blue paper, 208 x 138 mm. Louvre, Paris, 20.244.7910b) Anonymous 16th century (Dierick Vellert), retouched by Rubens (?), Interment of a Monk at Night, attended by a Bishop, pen and black ink with brush and brown wash and white heightening on dark brown prepared paper, d 285 mm. Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth, 353.8010c) Paolo Veronese, The Consecration of St Nicholas, 1562, canvas, 286.5 x 175.3 cm. NG, London, NG26.8110d) .Albrecht Dürer, The Apostles John and Peter and The Apostle Paul and the Evangelist Mark, monogrammed AD and dated 1526, panel, 212.8 x 76.2 cm (left panel), 212.4 x 76.3 cm (right panel). Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich, 545 and 540.8210e.I) Antonello da Messina, fragments of the San Cassiano Altarpiece, c. 1475–6, panel, 115 x 63 cm (centre panel), 55.5 x 35 cm (left panel), 56.8 x 35.6 cm (right panel). Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, GG_2574.8310e.II ) Copy by David Teniers II after part of Antonello’s San Cassiano Altarpiece (10e.I), St George and St Cecilia, c. 1650–56, panel, 23.5 x 17.3 cm. Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, London, Princes Gate Bequest, P.1978.PG.439.8410f) Paolo Veronese, SS. Geminianus and Severus, c. 1560 (painted for San Geminiano, Venice), canvas, 341 x 240 cm. Galleria Estense, Modena, 4187.8510g) Titian, Madonna with Child and Saints (Madonna dei Frari), 1533–5, oil on panel transferred to canvas, 388 x 270 cm. Vatican Museum, Rome, 40351.8610h) Hendrick Goltzius, St Andrew, 1589, inscriptions, engraving, 15 x 10.5 cm (no. 2 of Twelve Apostles). BM, London, 1853,0709.5.87Other pictures by Rubens11a) Peter Paul Rubens, St Joachim (or Moses?) and St Anne (or St John the Baptist?) on the back of Three and Four Music-Making angels, c. 1615–20, panel, 212 x 98 cm each. Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections, Vaduz-Vienna, GE 136 and GE 139.8811b) Peter Paul Rubens, Sketch for the crowning section of an altar frame, c. 1616–17, panel, 46.3 x 64.1 cm. Rubenshuis, Antwerp, RH.S.194.89Interior of the Burcht Church/St Walburga’s, Antwerp12a) Ambrosius Francken I or Frans Francken I, Triptych of the altar of the Guild of the Smiths made for the Church of Our Lady, Antwerp, St Eligius of Noyon preaching in the Church of St Walburga, Antwerp (centre panel), St Eligius visits the Prisoners (inner side of left wing), St Eligius helps the Crippled and Buries the Dead (inner side of right wing), (grisaille) St Eligius in his Smithy (outer side of left wing), (grisaille) Episcopal Ordination of St Eligius (outer side of right wing), dated 1588, panel, 250 x 188 cm (centre panel), 260 x 89 cm (each wing). KMSK, Antwerp, 576–80 [8].9012b) Antoon Gheringh, View of the Interior of St Walburga, Antwerp, c. 1661–9, canvas, 115 x 141 cm. St Paul, Antwerp [9].91Copy13) 19th-century English after DPG40A–B, SS. Amandus and Walburga and SS. Eligius and Catherine of Alexandria, graphite underdrawing, brush and watercolour on ivory wove paper, 169 x 121 mm. Private collection.92...

... wich modelli they are crowning the female saints; and the figure of St Eligius and the face of St Amandus are completely different. The clothes they wear are different too: in the modelli Rubens only indicated the colours, whereas in the outer wings they are heavily decorated silks and damasks, in different colours, except for St Catherine who still wears white. It has been suggested that the stole that St Amandus is wearing over his mantle could be English embroidery, saved from religious troubles and exported to Flanders in the 16th century.113 The male saints are no longer wearing their mitres as in the Dulwich modelli: the cherubs are holding them above their heads. According to J. R. Martin (1969) this was to stop them towering over the females – an aesthetic reason. It is however more probable that the consecration of St Amandus and St Eligius as bishops is depicted.114 See for instance the picture by Veronese in the National Gallery where St Nicholas is consecrated and an angel is holding his mitre, crozier and stole above him (1562; Related works, no. 10c) and one of the grisailles on the outer wings of the altarpiece dedicated to St Eligius by Ambrosius Francken, depicting the Consecration of St Eligius by two other bishops (Related works, no. 12a) [8]. However why Rubens changed the emphasis on the outer wings of the altarpiece from the female saints – the patron saints of the church – in the modelli to the male saints still needs some explanation. It might be suggested that this emphasis on the militant St Amandus and St Eligius, who had brought Christianity to Flanders, was better suited to the Counter Reformation views of Rubens’s patrons than honouring the female patron saints of St Walburga’s.Rubens evidently first considered placing the figures in niches, in imitation of marble sculptures, as he had done in pictures now in Vienna (Related works, no. 11a): these are roughly sketched in the modelli, but not present in the final altarpiece. The figures are depicted both realistically and as statues.115 Martin also noted in 1969 that it was significant that the sketches are about the same size as an oil sketch by Rubens of the altarpiece’s central scene and inner wings in the Louvre (Related works, no. 1a), making it likely that they were made at the same time, presumably to display the design to his patrons. In the modello in the Louvre the two thieves are depicted twice, on the central panel and again on the right wing, a sign that Rubens had changed his mind. According to Martin the Dulwich modelli must have been designed as the inner wings of the altarpiece. Held does not agree in his entry on the Louvre sketch.116 Lawrence in 1999 however, does: according to her at this stage Rubens was planning a scene of Moses and the Brazen Serpent on the outer wings of the St Walburga altarpiece, and the Dulwich modelli on the inner wings.117The saints in both the modelli and the outer wings are related to the figures in Rubens’s St Gregory surrounded by other Saints painted for the church of the Oratorians, the Chiesa Nuova or Santa Maria in Vallicella, in Rome, in 1606–7, and now in Grenoble (Related works, no. 4a.IV) [4]. During a trial hanging the clergy were not satisfied, and Rubens himself found his picture literally too shiny: the older miraculous Vallicella Madonna that had to be included in Rubens’s picture would hardly be visible. So Rubens kept the picture, painted his own Madonna and Child, and placed it by his mother’s grave in St Michael’s, Antwerp. The main characters of this picture – the voluminous figure of St Gregory and the princess-like female martyr, St Domitilla – were motifs that Rubens later developed, and eventually used for St Amandus and St Catherine in DPG40A–B.Between February and October 1608 Rubens painted a new central composition on slate panels, and also two side panels with three standing saints each (Related works, nos 5c.I–IV).118 Those saints look like the ones in the foreground of DPG40A–B (St Amandus and St Catherine), especially in their voluminous forms. However St Gregory is reaching out with his right hand into the space of the viewer and holding a book in his left hand, whereas in DPG40A (and on the outer wings of the altarpiece) St Amandus holds the book with both hands. In the Grenoble painting St Domitilla is depicted in profile, looking over her shoulder at the viewer. Rubens changed that in the second Vallicella picture (Related works, no. 5c.II): there she is shown almost completely frontally, in contrapposto, similar to one of the guardian angels in the outer wings of the Resurrection triptych in Antwerp Cathedral (1611–12; Related works, no. 8d.III), which is in turn based on a Roman caryatid now in the British Museum (Related works, no. 8d.I–II). A drawing in the Courtauld Institute made by Rubens after DPG40A (Related works, no. 3) [3] shows St Amandus bare-headed, as he would be in the St Walburga altarpiece. Urbach suggested that the bareheaded St Thomas in the Prado, who looks very much like the St Amandus in Antwerp, was inspired by a print by Hendrick Goltzius of St Andrew, dated 1589 (Related works, no. 10h), which in turn goes back to figures painted by Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528; such as Related works, no. 10d).119In general one can say that the composition of DPG40A–B and the outer wings of the Raising of the Cross is derived from Italian sacra conversaziones where we see a Madonnna and Child in the middle, often on a throne, flanked by standing saints. An example is the San Cassiano Altarpiece by Antonello da Messina, now in Vienna, that was in Venice until 1620 (Related works, no. 10e.I–II). Rubens however depicts only the standing saints. Several sources have been proposed for Rubens’s bishops in their voluminous clothes, such as 16th-century drawings retouched by Rubens – bishops by Polidoro da Caravaggio (?) (1499–1543) and by Dirck Vellert (1480/85–c. 1547), if that indeed was worked on by Rubens (Related works, nos 10a, b). For the stately figures Rubens also could have looked at the Four Apostles by Albrecht Dürer (1526), now in Munich (Related works, no. 10d). However they are not wearing decorated robes. For those Rubens could have looked at 16th-century Northern Italian pictures such as Titian’s Madonna dei Frari, now in the Vatican Museums, and especially the spectacular picture by Paolo Veronese, SS. Geminianus and Severus, at the time in San Geminiano in Venice (Related works, nos 10f, g);120 the latter picture is however much lighter that the outer wings of the Raising of the Cross, with their dark background. Martin suggested that the figures of St Catherine and St Amandus were the basis for Rubens’s later images of St Catherine and St Ambrose painted for the Jesuit Church in Antwerp, which was dedicated in 1621 (the paintings were destroyed by fire in 1718; see under DPG125).121 Earlier, in 1611–12, in the sketch for the later altarpiece for St Bavo in Ghent (now in the National Gallery, London) the St Catherine of DPG40B is St Gertrude in white on the left hand side of the picture (Related works, no. 7a).122...

Paulus POTTER

... life-size, and very famous, Young Bull of 1647 in the Mauritshuis [2].1 In 1650 he married the daughter of the city architect of The Hague, where he seems to have been living, and he also began to receive commissions from Amalia van Solms-Braunfels (1602–75), the widow of the Stadholder, Prince Frederik Hendrik of Orange (1584–1647). In 1651 he was sued for failing to deliver commissioned paintings. In the following year he moved to Amsterdam, where he painted an equestrian portrait of Dirck Tulp (Six collection, Amsterdam) [3].2 Potter died of tuberculosis.Potter was the third Dutch 17t...

... ulus Potter?); Dumas 2021a, fig. 3 (after Paulus Potter); RKD, no. 284562: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/284562 (May 24, 2017).TECHNICAL NOTESTwo-member oak panel. The verso edges are bevelled. There is considerable discoloured restoration in the sky and on the distant horizon, and very slight blistering of the paint in this area. The ‘Paulus Potter’ signature at the bottom right is false. The varnish is thick and discoloured. Previous recorded treatment: 1934, several old holes in panel treated with light application of paraffin.RELATED WORKS1) Prime version, present whereabouts unknown: ‘POTTER. (Paulus). Hoog 16, en breed 23 duim [41.1 x 59.1 cm]. Pnl (panel). Een grazige Heuvel, op welken drie Koeijen en een Schaap verbeeld zyn; in ’t verschiet ziet men een Dorp, en op den tweeden grond een koets met vier Paarden. De behandeling van dit st...

... rgvelt 2016, pp. 158–9 (Manner of Paulus Potter); RKD, no. 284564: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/284564 (May 24, 2017).TECHNICAL NOTESOak panel with additions on all sides. The additions are not properly joined to the panel and the gaps are visible and very distracting. There is a crack in the lower addition where it has been stuck to the central panel. The reverse is very thinly primed or painted. The paint of the left addition appears darker than that of the central panel. The varnish is very discoloured. No previous recorded conservation treatment.The painting is a mediocre attempt at the style of Potter, and it is not inconceivable that it was produced by Sir Francis Bourgeois, who almost certainly made additions to the sides to produce dimensions similar to DPG51 by Adriaen van de Velde (1636–72). The two paintings were described as a pair in the 1813 inventory of Bourgeois’ collection. The pose of the reclining cow is very similar to another work at Dulwich once attributed to Potter, DPG334....

... as seems well attached to the wooden support except for the area of the join. There is fine cupping in the trees above the cow, showing the ground in places. There is abrasion in the shoulder of the cow and in the tree trunk. The varnish is discoloured and uneven and is slightly scuffed in places. There is some surface dirt, particularly in the dips of the impasto. Previous recorded treatment: 1953–5, Dr Hell.RELATED WORK1) Paulus Potter, Cattle and Sheep in a Stormy Landscape, signed and dated Paulus. Potter : f. 1647, panel, 46.3 x 37.8 cm. NG, London, 2583 [6].13Although it first appeared in Bourgeois’ collection as by Potter, A Cow was demoted to ‘Dutch School’ in 1880, and remained there until 1998, when Richard Beresford presented it as ‘Manner of Potter’. This seems fair, as the picture is stylistically in keeping with that artist’s work, though it is clearly not by him in quality, nor does it follow any of his known compositions. Until more is known of the many artists who copied, pastiched, or imitated Potter’s work, during his lifetime and after his death, the Dulwich picture must remain anonymous. It is however easy to agree with Denning’s judgment in 1858 that...

Adam PIJNACKER

... nts. A merchant himself, he never registered with the Guild of St Luke. He visited...

... p. 186, under no. 106; Murray 1980a, p. 98; Murray 1980b, p. 22; Harwood 1985, p. 486 (col. pl. 2); Harwood 1988, p. 61, no. 32 (fig. VIII; c. 1653); Belsey 1991 (fig.); Harwood 1996b, p. 755; Beresford 1998, p. 189; Shawe-Taylor 2000, pp. 60–61; Wheelock 2001a, p. 210 (note 4), under no. 44 (Cuyp; A. Rüger); Jonker & Bergvelt 2016, pp. 150–51; RKD, no. 52757: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/52757 (April 3, 2017).EXHIBITIONSLondon 1952–3, p. 57, no. 285; NG, London, Oct.–Nov. 1980;5 London 1991a, pp. 12–15, no. 4 (L. B. Harwood); Williamstown/Sarasota 1994–5, pp. 48–9, no. 6 (L. B. Harwood; 1653–4); Bath 1999, n.p., no. 7 (A. Sumner); Madrid/Bilbao 1999, pp. 134–5, no. 32 (I. Dejardin); Houston/Louisville 1999–2000, pp. 184–5, no. 63 (D. Shawe-Taylor); London 2002, pp. 166–7, no. 41 (L. B. Harwood; c. 1653); Williamsburg/Fresno/Pittsburgh/Oklahoma 2008–10, pp. 82–3, no. 27 (I. A. C. Dejardin).TECHNICAL NOTESTwo-member oak panel, with horizontal grain. The verso edges are bevelled, and there is a thin layer of wax or size on the reverse. This work is thinly painted for the most part, with...

... n of a copper green pigment. It is likely that the red glaze of the pink flowers in the left foreground has faded to some extent. There are pentimenti around the head of the figure blowing the horn and in the upper branches of the trees. Previous recorded treatment: 1911, lined, Holder; 1935, frame and stretcher treated with paraffin; 1967, relined with wax, J. C. Robinson; 1980, surface cleaned and varnished, National Maritime Museum, J. Green and C. Hampton; 2000, some small losses consolidated before loan, S. Plender; 2001–2, relined with BEVA, T. Cumin; cleaned and restored, S. Plender; 2002, technical analysis carried out, L. Sheldon and C. Gray.RELATED WORKS1) Ludolf de Jongh, A Huntsman with his Servant and Hounds in a Landscape, panel, 51.5 x 61.5 cm. Present whereabouts unknown (Sotheby’s, 16 April 1997, lot 9, with further provenance) [4].192a) Adam Pijnacker, Landscape with Huntsmen, c. 1658, canvas, 190.5 x 190.5 cm. National Trust, Attingham Park, Shrewsbury, NT 608996 [5].202b) Adam Pijnacker, A Dog lying with a Dead Deer, oil on paper, 257 x 311 mm. Amsterdam Museum, Fodor Collection, TA10372.212c) Adam Pijnacker, Italianate Landscape with a Waterfall and Fishermen, signed APynacker (A P in ligature), c. 1665–70, canvas, 297 x 270 cm. BvB, Rotterdam, 1685.222d) Adam Pijnacker, Hilly Landscape at Evening, c. 1665–70, canvas, 303 x 267 cm. BvB, Rotterdam, 1686.232e) Adam Pijnacker, Landscape with a Silver Birch, signed APynacker (AP in ligature), canvas, 82 x 70.5 cm. The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla., SN 896.243a) Thomas Gainsborough, Study of Burdock Leaves, black chalk, 138 x 186 mm. BM, London, 1910,0212.256 [6].253b) Partial copy: John Crome, Silver Birches, signed J. Crome (possibly autograph), c. 1814–15, watercolour and bodycolour, 248 x 200 mm. Norwich Castle Museum, 112.936.263c) Copy: Liz Charsley-Jory, Landscape with Sportmen and Game, 2011–12, oil pastel, 70 x 50 cm. Whereabouts unknown.27Long one of the most popular paintings at Dulwich, and a key work in Pijnacker’s œuvre, Landscape with Sportsmen and Game is one of his larger compositions, and a superb example of his mature style. Laurie Harwood proposed a date for it of c. 1661–5. Pijnacker’s pictures of the 1660s are characterized by bright colours set against a cooler tonality, a harder style, and an interest in ambiguous space with sudden transitions between foreground and middle ground, all of which are present here. The vibrant leaves in the foreground demonstrate the use of localized colour, even if with the passage of time their fugitive yellow pigment or loss of a glaze has left them blue. Another characteristic feature is the overlapping and twisting trees with the amazing white bark of the birches (cf. Related works, no. 2e).What is particularly impressive is the way Pijnacker has managed to make the small group of figures in the centre of the picture dominate their expansive environment. Of particular interest is the defecating dog in this group, which as Harwood noted is derived from another in a landscape by the Rotterdam arti...

Adriaen van OSTADE

... re than two hundred paintings by him and other masters, many prints and drawings by him and others, and all his copperplates. Part of his estate went to Cornelis Dusart (1660–1704), who in some instances finished Ostade’s paintings, under their joint names.In the Desenfans Insurance list of 1804 two Ostade works are mentioned: ‘Dutch Boors’ (DPG115) and ‘A Conversation’ (DPG45). According to Britton in 1813 the Bourgeois collection included six paintings by the Ostade brothers – four by Adriaen and two by Isaac. Of those by Adriaen, three are still considered to be by him: DPG45, 98, and 113. DPG16 is now thought to be by J. van Mosscher (c. 1605; active c. 1635–55). But one of the Isaac van Ostades is now attributed to Adriaen, DPG115. There is also a copy after Adriaen, DPG619. The other ‘Isaac van Ostade’, DPG64, is now thought to be by Govert Camphuysen (1623/4–72).LITERATURESlatkes 1978, pp. 327–63; Schnackenburg 1981; Schnackenburg 1984; Pelletier, Slatkes & Stone-Ferrier 1994; Phagan & Eiland 1996; Schnackenburg 1996c; Van der Coelen 1998; Van Thiel-Stroman 2006f; Ebert 2013; Saur, xciii, 201...

... 19th century, although it is more probable that they were just repeating what they had read. In 1876 Sparkes however gives ‘1647’, with a question mark, probably because this contradicts the three previous authors, who were to be taken seriously.Smoking and drinking – which were closely associated – were particularly popular subjects for Dutch and Flemish genre painters in the 17th century, and Ostade was no exception, producing numerous small-scale didactic pictures with these themes throughout his career (see also DPG98).DPG115 seems to be a simplified version of an earlier picture (1643) by Ostade, now in Geneva, which shows a comparable interior of an inn with more figures (Related works, no. 1b). Three Peasants at an Inn was a celebrated picture, and was engraved under the title Jan de Moff (John the Jerry, i.e. the German) by Jonas Suyderhoef (c. 1613 –86; Related works, no. 2a) [2], who produced a series of engravings after Adriaen van Ostade.18 Its accompanying verses sing about the joys of tobacco, beer and music. Suyderhoef made another print after a very similar scene by Adriaen Brouwer, accompanied by verses in Latin praising tobacco, wine and food (Related works, no. 2b). According to Eddy de Jongh the Latin verses next to the print after Brouwer are an example of the ‘paradoxical panegyric’, where by praising things they are criticized.19 That could also be the case with the Dutch verses next to the Jan de Moff print.Vivian argued that DPG115 might be one of a series of the five senses that had been in the collection of the Venetian painter Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (1675–1741): ‘Cinque Quadretti rappnti li 5 sentim.’ The Dulwich picture would in that case represent Hearing.20 That is a possibility, although the drinking and smoking are as prominent as the music-making, but that happens in other representations of Hearing as well. More important is the fact that the other four senses are missing. That the picture remained popular is shown by three 19th-century copies (Related works, nos 3c–3e).Murray suggested that this might be the Ostade ‘Boors Singing’ that Desenfans offered in his 1795 sale (lot 54). This seems unlikely, however, as that picture had a pendant and the two had repeatedly appeared in his sales since 1785. It may have been acquired after his 1802 sale, where it does not appear....

... the woman’s tunic, disguising patches of wear or areas where the grain of the panel shows through the paint; these now appear matt and slightly darkened. The varnish is a little opaque. Previous recorded treatment: 1949–53, Dr Hell.RELATED WORKS1) Copy: present whereabouts unknown (Weustenberg sale, Berlin, 27 Oct. 1908, lot 51, priced at £110 5s.; Henry Weustenberg, 1907 catalogue, no. 92) [3].272) Adriaen van Ostade, A Peasant courting an Elderly Woman, signed and dated Av. Ostade. / 1653, panel, 27.3 x 22.1 cm. NG, London, NG2542.28Hofstede de Groot considered that this dated from late in Ostade’s career, a period when he increasingly concentrated on modest scenes of peasants enjoying the pleasures their station in life afforded them. There is also a degree of nobility in these peasants that is absent from those in his earlier riotous tavern scenes: they have carefully individualized features rather than generic masks. The painting is typically constructed in a range of earth tonalities, accented by highlights of localized colour in the white headscarf, the red top, and the foliage outside. A similar scene by Ostade of an older man and woman sitting by a window with leaded lights is A Peasant courting an Elderly Woman (Related works, no. 2), dated 1653; the difference between that and this late picture reveals a major shift in both mood and in style.DPG45 may have been in Desenfans’ possession from about 1790–91, and it was definitely included in his 1802 sale of ‘Polish’ pictures. It is conceivable that it may have been originally purchased for Stanislaus II Augustus Poniatowski, King of Poland (1732–98). It is the sort of representative sample of Ostade’s late style that would have been appropriate for a royal or national collection....

... s, panel, 27.9 x 22.9 cm. Cannon Hall Museum, Barnsley, A1942.30DPG98 has been considered to form a pair with DPG113 since Britton’s inventory in 1813. That is however not likely, as not only are the dimensions different but the compositions face the same way, which is not usual in a pair. Two pictures in Barnsley, slightly larger, also depict a woman drinking and a man smoking, but turned towards each other; they are more likely to have been meant as a pair (Related works, nos 1a and 1b). They are dated in the 1660s; DPG98 was probably also painted late in Ostade’s career. This is another example of Ostade’s numerous small-scale didactic pictures with the subjects of smoking and drinking (see also DPG115).Denning in his catalogues thought that DPG98 was by Dusart and the signature a forgery, but this has been discounted by all subsequent writers. DPG98 and DPG113 seem to have entered Bourgeois’ collection near the end of his life: no similar works are recorded in Desenfans’ earlier inventories or sales.31...

... ldt sale, Lempertz, Cologne, 6 Nov. 1928, lot 171).341b) Adriaen van Ostade, The Smoker, signed Av Ostade, c. 1655, panel, 17.5 x 15.5 cm. Hermitage, St Petersburg, 4085 [4].351c) Adriaen van Ostade, Smoker, panel, 26 x 25 cm. KMSKA, Antwerp, 466.362a) Adriaen van Ostade, Smoker lighting his Pipe, c. 1640–47, etching, and pen in brown, 68 x 55 mm. RPK, RM, Amsterdam, RP-P-OB-12.645 [5].372b) Adriaen van Ostade, Man wearing a hat, holding a pipe and tankard, and leaning on a window frame, signed Av. ostade [Av as monogram], c. 1648–59, etching, 200 x 156 mm. BM, London, 1855,0114.210.382c) Adriaen van Ostade, A man seated at a table directed to the right, holding a pipe, leaning on the back of a chair, signed Av.Ostade.[Av as monogram], c. 1652, etching, 70 x 54 mm. BM, London, 1855,0114.208.39Like drinking (see DPG98 – with which DPG113 is no longer considered to form a pair), smoking was favoured as a subject by 17th-century Dutch and Flemish genre painters.40 Ostade seems to have been particularly fascinated by it, tackling the subject in paintings (Related works, nos 1a–1c) [4] and in prints (Related works, nos 2a–2c).41 Smoking could be seen as a vice, closely related to drinking alcohol.42 One of the Ostade prints (Related works, no. 2a) [5] was republished in 1716, where it is accompanied by verses that speak of tobacco helping to drive all cares from one’s head.43 However some lines further down, smoke, and the act of smoking, are seen as a symbol of the frailty of human life: ‘As I see [tobacco smoke] driven by the wind dispersed in the thin air, then I see it as a model of my life’ (Related works, no. 2b).44 Although these two meanings are given in an 18th-century source, we can safely assume that they were the same in the 17th century, as was the idea that smoking was a vic...

... some small headless nails in the edges. The paint and ground layers on the central member are not stable and tend to blister. Previous recorded treatment: 1873, cleaned ‘by Mr John Nathan’s new mode of restoring without friction’ (from a label on the reverse); 1988, cleaned, locally consolidated, restored, Courtauld Institute of Art; 2007, blisters consolidated, S. Plender.RELATED WORKS1a) Prime version: Adriaan van Ostade, Peasants at an Inn, signed and dated AV ostade / 1676, panel, 38.5 x 32.5 cm. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Kassel, GK 277 [6].461b) Same orientation as no. 1a: Adriaen van Ostade,...

13.4 Young Woman in a Blue Satin Dress : Sources and Copies

... famous self-portraits dealt with above [5-6].The almond-shaped brown eyes, eyelids, high eyebrows, cheeks, slightly smiling mouth, shape of the chin and rounded jawline of the woman compare well with those of the only known sure portrait of Ovens’ wife Maria – painted in circa 1652, some three years earlier [18] – and make the identification of the model as Ovens’ spouse plausible. Based on these facial resemblances, the painting discussed here has been regarded as a portrait of Maria Ovens.43 However, the woman’s partially visible bosom, as well as her archaic dress, seem to rule out this identification and prompt the notion that the painting should be considered a tronie – a study of an interesting character (in this case an attractive young woman) in bust- or half-length format, that cannot be identified with a (historic) person – rather than a portrait in the true sense of the word.44 It appears that the fancy picture is to be understood as an image of a courtesan, since the similarities with 16th-century Venetian depictions of courtesans are obvious.45Never before it has been remarked in the literature that Ovens’...

... ntended for public consumption. Ovens might also have created the print partly for his private purpose; the fact that he probably still owned the painting (or a nearly identical version of it) twenty years after its execution indicates it was not made on commission and must have had a special meaning and personal significance for him.56 The intimate work will have passed on to duke Christian Albrecht (reigned 1659-1694) and/or Frederick IV (reigned 1695-1702): a ‘Picture of a woman with a blue dress, by Ovens’ is mentioned in the 1695 inventory of Gottorf castle.57 Furthermore, Dauw records seeing the original painting there.58 Remarkably, here the sitter is not considered as Ovens’ wife. The description actually partially matches the present author’s given title of this painting, which would end up as Ovens’ most copied work in Schleswig-Holstein....

11.3 Portraits

... self-portrait.28 The half-length portrait shows a man turned to the right with a reddish pointed beard against a dark background. He holds an open pocket watch in...

... and attentive, her grey-brown eyes seem to be looking at her counterpart. The contours of cheeks, nose and chin seem very plastic by the distribution of the light and shadow-parts. The cheeks are slightly reddened and a smile lies on her lips. She holds a small book with a red cover and a gilt edge in her right hand, with an index finger between the pages, so that she can resume reading the next moment. Her left hand rests on the wrist of her right hand. The white, lace-trimmed cuffs of the undergarment look out of her sleeves. On the ring fi...

... s. The portrait shows Rudolf Amsinck at the age of 27 as a half-figure turned to the right against a dark background. He wears a black, slashed doublet and a white ruff. The starched linen is set into elaborate figure-of-eight folds and the gold thread of the supportasse shines through the fine fabric. Rudolf Amsinck’s reddish hair is short, and he wears a slightly twirled moustache and a small beard. In his right hand he holds an open pocket watch that resembles the watch of the unknown gentleman in the Hamburger Kunsthalle....

... her wrist she wears a gold bracelet with precious stones and two gold rings with precious stones on her index finger. The elaborate dress style and the rich jewellery do not correspond to the Hamburg dress code.35 The Dutch immigrants were not subject to the Hamburg sumptuary laws and were therefore able to display their wealth and creditworthiness more exuberantly....

... ginates from pre-Reformation times and refers to the Holy Body of Christ, the transformed host. The office comprised the supervision of the parish assets and the bookkeeping of the income and expenditure of the parish. The senior citizens were elected from the Deacons of the four Hamburg parishes of St. Nicolai, St. Peter’s, St. Jacob’s and St. Catherine’s. Since the Reformation they had each administered the poor box of their parish, as well as the main box, and the Hospital of the Holy Spirit together. From 1620/21 onwards Ditmar Kohl was a member of the Council of forty-eight, which comprised the congregation of the Seniors and the Deacons. In 1625 he became president of this corporation. The Council of 48 represented the citizenry before the Senate and was responsible for ensuring that agreement...

... f law. In 1604 he lived in Switzerland and travelled from there several times to Florence. After he obtained his law degree in Basel in 1608, he returned to Hamburg. He worked several times as a legate for the Hamburg Senate, for example in London in 1614 to negotiate the affairs of the Merchant Adventurers. In 1624 he received his doctorate in civil and church law in Hamburg and in 1625 he married Margarethe Moller, widow of the Hamburg mayor Sebastian von Bergen. As a legal scholar and philologist, Friedrich Lindenbrog published the first commented version of the Germanic law. He acquired numerous medieval manuscripts, which he bequeathed to the Hamburg library after his death. Friedrich Lindenbrog was a good friend of David Kindt. He took over the patronage for his fifth child, born on September 24, 1617, who was named after him Friedrich. It seems plausible to place the creation of the portrait in the context of the patronage.38...

... ed Maria Funck, daughter of the pastor Daniel Funck from Rethem near Lüneburg. In 1613 he became a preacher in Bucca in the county of Hoya, in 1615 he became pastor in Weimar, and in 1617 main pastor at St. Jacob’s Church in Hamburg. Between 1621 and 1625 he gave theological lectures at the academic Gymnasium Johanneum in Hamburg. In 1646 he was Senior of the Hamburg Ministry. Severin Schlüter wrote several theological and philosophical treatises, some of which deal critically with the Calvinist doctrine of predestination and the Lord’s Supper....

11.4 History Paintings

... ular prince and lying in his coffin in the habit of the Franciscans. Both paintings belonged together, as a copper engraving in Peter Lambeck’s Origines Hamburgenses from 1652 shows. Only the painting with the reclining figure has survived. The painting with the standing figure was destroyed during the bombing of Hamburg in 1943. Until this time, it was permanently in the possession of the Maria Magdalena Monastery. A photograph from the pre-war period shows that this painting, too, was restored or painted over around 1600 and provided with a new frame decorated with strapwork.43...

... ge’.51 The Biblical quotation describes the life situation of the rich man who has accumulated a great fortune. The bread, the wine glass and the fruits seem to illustrate the meaning. In the context of the other two inscriptions, a moral sense emerges which, as memento mori, refers to the end of earthly existence and the transience of all earthly goods. The motif of the rich merchant who is struck by death in the middle of life goes back to the motif of the danse macabre. David Kindt abandons the medieval pattern of walking full-length figures and focuses on Hans Holbein’s pictorial inventions in his series of woodcuts on the Dance of Death, made around 1524.52 The still life-like arrangement on the table corresponds to the more recent form of representation of transience, which first appeared around 1600, and which, in the later 17th century, flows into its own genre with the Vanitas still life. The play De düdesche Schlömer by Johannes Stricker (1540-1599), which appeared in 1584 in Lübeck, can be considered as a literary model. It is an adaptation of the well-known play ‘Jedermann’ (Everyman) which has been known since about 1500: An unscrupulous rich man is condemned to early death by God and to eternal hell by Moses. As a dying man, he turns to God again and thereby achieves eternal live. The decisive factor for this turning point is the Protestant view that it is not good works but faith in God alone that makes the redemption of the soul possible. Related in content is also the story of the poor man and the rich Lazarus, written by Georg Rollenhagen (1542-1609) in 1590, which has produced its own pictorial tradition....

... To the right of John, by the legs and feet of the body of Christ, Mary Magdalene and Mary Cleophas are depicted. While Mary Cleophas, like Our Lady, wears a flowing, antique garment and a veil, the figure of Mary Magdalene stands out for her modern, rich clothing. Unlike the other women, her head is not covered. She wears her blonde hair tautly combed backwards and a coiffure with a braid. Over a delicate, translucent undergarment with golden piping she wears a dark red coat with fur trimming. With her right hand she grabs her forehead, with her left she holds the jar of ointment. Her attentive gaze is directed at the corpse, but David Kindt refrains from depicting any signs of exalted mourning. It seems very unusual that the theme was even depicted in Lutheran Hamburg, since this subject is rarely found in Protestant regions....

13.7 Ovens’ Resurrection of Christ: an Emulation of the Bahr Epitaph

... he repertory of the Resurrection, Christ surprisingly does not carry one. That deviation reminds of Pieter Lastman’s (1583-1633) Resurrection from 1610 [35] and 1612 [36] which Ovens probably knew.71 For Christ’ body type, his outspread arms (recalling his crucifixion), unflattered face and the strong light-dark contrast that emphasizes the expressive power of the miracle taking place, Ovens will also have looked at Lastman. Contrary to the painting of the latter artist however, Christ’s crucifixion wounds cannot be discerned in Ovens’ work, perhaps be...

... the bottom part of the painting with Christ, while the soldiers in the work from 1666 barely seem to notice what is going on around them. Ovens’ left soldier and the guard he is trying to wake up by putting his hand on his shoulder, echo the figures on the same side of the Bahr epitaph. However, Ovens’ soldier seems to try to escape from the graveside and thereby increases the dynamics. Ovens replaced the sleeping man with a younger soldier, his face lost in profile, thus adding to the great mutual variety among his anxious guards – who all wear different outfits and headgears – compared to the figures of the unknown painter.82 Ovens’ falling soldier in the lower center, drawing his sabre in defence, could have been taken over somewhat freely from Rembrandt’s tumbling guard in the middle of his Resurrection.83 The stiff Bahr soldiers and their coarse faces betray the hand of a provincial artist; yet he seems to have had knowledge of Boeckhorst’s risen Christ, considering the almost corresponding position of the arms and legs – but of course, the anonymus perhaps based himself on another source, for instance a print....

13.6 Flinck and Ovens in the Amsterdam Town Hall

... and Peace [33] for the Aldermen’s Chamber in the Town Hall and ‘worked up’ Flinck’s lunette in the southeastern corner of the gallery around the Citizens’ Hall, The Midnight Conspiracy of the Batavians under Claudius Civilis [31]. The nautilus cup and the golden jug on the lowest step of Justice are derived from the objects in the hands of the young servant, dressed in red, of the Midnight Conspiracy. A similar jug appears in the right arm of the man at the bottom right in Solomon.69...

1.5 The Mobility of Artists from the Low Countries in the German Lands

... this realm compared to artists of the Southern Netherlands and, when visiting the same towns, they did so to a different degree. The many different courts attracted predominantly Dutch artists when there were strong political and religious connections with the Northern Netherlands; Flemish artists formed a vast majority at courts which were connected to the Southern Netherlands. The many courts in the region of the Holy Roman Empire generated a vast amount of commissions for artists; according to Brulez, most commissions in Europe (28.5% of all) came from Germany.78 This corresponds with the substantially higher than average percentage of court artists from the Low Countries active in Germany, as retrieved from RKDartists&, which is 25.07%, against the average of 15.3%.79 This percentage of court artists is a little higher in the whole region of Germany, Austria and Bohemia, that is 25.81%, of which artists from the Southern Netherlands have a slightly larger share.80In his ‘Ausbreitung’, Horst Gerson divided the region of Germany, Austria and Bohemia into six areas - Northern Germany, the Rhineland, Central Germany, the Main area, Southern Germany and Austria and Bohemia - each of which he discussed, so to speak, ‘clockwise’, from Northwest to Southeast. All the towns and courts in the illustrated chart bars are covered, including their specific circumstances and major actors and stakeholders. As in Gerson, in my research several artists on the move pop up in different places in the illustrated chart bars....

... cted a flow of Dutch Rhine-travellers, in particular from the 1650s onwards.85 Frankfurt was equally important for Dutch and Flemish artists because of its famous trade fairs, as an important production centre of books and prints and as the most important traffic hub in Germany. The Merian and Le Blon families in Frankfurt were highly active in the middle of this, as they were strongly connected to both the Southern and the Northern Netherlands.86 The well-travelled, reputedly pleasant and hospitable Matthäus Merian II (1621-1687) [29], who had been a pupil of Joachim von Sandrart in Amsterdam and a collaborator of Sir Anthony van Dyck in London, received a succession of artists in transit from the Low Countries in his house in Frankfurt, among others Samuel van Hoogstraten in 1651.It was the Dutch artists who were predominant at the courts in Berlin and Düsseldorf, thanks to the Dutch connections of a few electors. Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg (1620-1688), who had studied in Leiden and married Louise Henriette van Nassau (1627–1667), daughter of Frederik Hendrik van Oranje-Nassau and Amalia van Solms, attracted a series of Dutch artists to his court in Berlin.87 This tradition was continued by his son and successor Friedrich III, the future King Friedrich I von Preußen (1657-1713), who also founded an art academy in 1696 with the deployment of mainly Dutch artists. The Düsseldorf court, especially the one of Elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz (1658-1716) was highly popular amongst Dutch artists.88 Some of them were even allowed to work largely in the Netherlands and only visit occasionally; among them was Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), who travelled several times up and down from Amsterdam to Düsseldorf.89 Also the painting gallery the elector assembled during his lifetime was an important attraction for later generations of artists from the Netherlands in the 18th century.The Catholic courts in Prague – especially the court of Emperor Rudolph II (1552-1612) – and Munich, on the other hand, employed mainly artists from the Southern Netherlands, more than twice as much artists as from the Northern ...