Lot 44
  • 44

Hendrick Maertensz. Sorgh

Estimate
2,000,000 - 3,000,000 USD
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Description

  • Hendrick Maertensz. Sorgh
  • Musical Company
  • signed and dated lower right: HM Sorgh/1661
  • oil on canvas
  • 26 3/4 x 32 1/4 inches

Provenance

Possibly Johan van der Linden van Slingeland, Dordrecht;
His sale, Dordrecht, Yver/Delfos, 22 August 1785, lot 393, for 135 florins to Laytsche;
Joost van Steenberghen, Belgium;
His sale, Ghent, De Goesin, 28 October 1802, lot 12;
Marczell von Nemes, until 1930;
With D. Katz, Dieren, in 1935;
With Abraham Nijstad, Lochem / The Hague;
From whom acquired in 1949 by a Dutch Private Collector and thence by descent in the family to his son;
By whom sold ("Property from a Private Collection"), London, Sotheby's, 17 December 1998, lot 28;
There purchchased by the present collector.

Exhibited

On loan to the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest;
Rotterdam, Rotterdamsche Kunstkring, Tentoonstelling van Schilderijen door Oud-Hollandsche en Vlaamsche Meesters waaronder beroemde meesterwerken als Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Jan Steen, enz. enz. uit de Collectie de Fa. D. Katz te Dieren, 16 November - 15 December 1935, no. 64 (lent by Katz, with provenance from de Nemes, Budapest);
Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Berlin, Staatliche Museen; London, Royal Academy of Arts, Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting, 18 March-18 November 1984, cat. no. 100.

Literature

P. Sutton, Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting, exhibition catalogue, Philadelphia 1984, pp. 303-304, cat. no. 100, reproduced plate 94.

Condition

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 not been restored for a number of years and would benefit from careful conservation. The canvas has an old lining. The only noticeable structural issue is a diagonal damage in the background immediately to the left of the guitarist's red hat. Otherwise the canvas seems to be undamaged, although needless to say cracking has occurred very finely throughout. When the painting is cleaned, a good deal of dirt and yellowed varnish will be removed revealing a brighter palette with more depth. Nonetheless, it seems that the condition of the paint throughout is very fine, despite the fact that along the bottom edge in the floor there seem to be some old restorations and presumably others here and there around the edges. This picture will benefit greatly from a complete restoration however it is generally in lovely condition.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Catalogue Note

In a spacious interior, a group of five elegantly dressed people are shown making music, watched by a servant boy washing wine glasses on the right and by a woman upon a balcony beyond. A young man plays the theorbo, while another plays the violin. A young girl sings in accompaniment while beating time to the music as a young man and woman listen attentively.

It was not until its inclusion in the major 1984 exhibition Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting (see Exhibited) that this work achieved recognition as one of Sorgh's finest achievements. This type of subject is in fact relatively rare in Sorgh's oeuvre, which up to this date had chiefly consisted of low-life peasant subjects or the kitchen and market scenes for which he is best known.  At the time this picture was painted in 1661, Sorgh had begun to paint the Family of Ewout Prins (Historisch Museum, Rotterdam) and the Lute Player (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, both exhibited Rotterdam, Historisch Museum, Rotterdamse Meesters uit de Gouden Eeuw, 1994, nos. 52 and 53)  This may have been in part a reaction to the paintings produced in nearby Delft in the late 1650s by Pieter de Hooch and Vermeer, or perhaps it was a reflection of Sorgh's own elevation to hoofdman (leader) of the Guild of Saint Luke in Haarlem in 1659.  Curiously, but perhaps to enhance this sense of elegance and affluence, the costumes depicted here are almost theatrical variants of sixteenth and early seventeenth century dress  The elegant (and presumably expensive) viola da gamba on the left, and the beautifully rendered pitcher and smoking utensils on the bench opposite, are outstanding examples of Sorgh's more usual interest and skill in depicting still life elements.

As so often with paintings of this type, music is also mixed with potential allusions to love or passion, such as the bird in the birdcage. The young girl resting with her head on her hand while she watches the young man paying the theorbo conforms, for example, to contemporary depictions of soetepijn or lovesickness. However, whether her ailment is brought on or remedied by the music remains unclear. As Peter Sutton observed in the 1984 exhibition catalogue, the pretzels depicted upon the table were also sometimes awarded for musical performances.