Jan Baptist Weenix

Pieter van Winter (1745 - 1807);
His daughter, Lucretia Johanna van Winter (1785 - 1845), who in 1822 married Hendrik Six van Hillegom, 509-511 Herengracht, Amsterdam;
By inheritance at the same address to their sons, Pieter Hendrick Six van Vromade and Jan Pieter Six van Hillegom (died 1899);
Thence by descent to the latter's son, Jan Six van Hillegom (1857-1926);
His deceased and his cousin Jan Willem Six van Vromade's sale, (Six Collection sale), Amsterdam, Frederik Muller & Cie., October 16, 1928, lot 52, for 3,600 florins to van Duren;
With Galerie van Diemen, Amsterdam;
Walter Reiss, Leipzig and Johannesburg (by 1929);
With Hilde Gärtner (née Reiss), Johannesburg (from mid 1930s until sent to London for sale circa 1948);
With Appleby Bros., London;
By whom sold, London, Christie's, October 22, 1948, lot 193, for £16 to Mont & Co.;
With Frederick Mont, New York, from whom acquired in 1960 by Günter and Annaliese Henle;
By whose Estate sold (`The Henle Collection of Old Master Paintings'), London, Sotheby's, December 3, 1997, lot 7;
There purchased by the present collector. 

Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 1900, no. 165;
Leipzeig, Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipziger Kunstverein, 1929, cat. no. 126;
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Die Sammlung Henle, 22 February-5 April 1964, no. 43.

A. von Würzbach, Niederlandisches Kunstler-Lexikon, vol. II, 1910, p. 846;
H. Vey, Die Sammlung Henle, exhibition catalogue, Cologne 1964, no. 43, reproduced;
K.J. Müllenmeister, Meer und Land im Licht des 17. Jahrhunderts, 1981, vol. 3, pp. 97-8, reproduced fig. 521;
R. Priem, `The "most excellent collection" of Lucretia Johanna van Winter: the years 1809-22, with a catalogue of the works purchased,' in Simiolus, vol. 25, 1997, no. 223, p. 124, 191, 195 and 222 (no. 168).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been recently restored and should be hung as is. The canvas has an old glue lining which nicely stabilizes the paint layer. To the immediate left of the snout of the dog in the lower left there is a restoration most likely addressing a pentiment. Apart from this and a few isolated spots in the sky, there are no retouches of note and the condition is particularly good, displaying considerable quality and detail throughout.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The composition of this picture recalls that of a similar work painted by Weenix in 1649 and now in the Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst, The Hague.¹  In both works, ships occupy the quay to the left, while at right a pyramidal obelisk is set before antique ruins on a rise, with the end of a classical colonnade framing the composition to the extreme right, and horsemen and resting figures in the center and right foreground.  Weenix painted the Rijksdienst picture two years after his return from a four-year stay in Italy, and it is therefore a relatively early work, with few pictures predating his Italian journey.  The present painting, signed in an Italianized version of Weenix's name at the lower right, is likely to date from around the same time, perhaps shortly after he settled in Utrecht in 1649.

These harbor scenes were largely imaginary, although some did include certain identifiable topographical motifs, and the Dutch Italianate painters frequently introduced exotic elements such as the turbaned figures, pictured in the present painting near the obelisk, that appeared foreign to contemporary Dutch painting.  The emergence of the Dutch Italianate harbor scenes, of which Weenix was a major proponent, has a direct link to the apogee of Dutch trade in the Mediterranean from 1647-48.  This type of painting achieved its definitive form through works by Jan Both and Jan Asselijn in the 1640s.

1  See F.J. Duparc and L.L. Graif, Italian Recollections: Dutch
 Painters of the Golden Age, Montreal, exhibition catalogue, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1990, pp. 189-90, no. 65.