Johannes Natus

F. Lugt, The Hague;
Anonymous sale, Frederick Muller, Amsterdam, 9 April 1940, lot 514;
B. de Geus van den Heuvel, Nieuwersluis;
His sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby Mak van Waay, 26 April 1976, lot 40;
With Berry Hill Gallery, New York;
The Timken Art Gallery, San Diego, CA;
By whom sold, New York, Christie’s, 26 January 2001, lot 99;
There purchased by the present collector. 

Amsterdam, International Cultureel Centrum, 1950-51;
Schiedam, Stedelijk Museum, December 1951-January 1952, no. 48;
Delft, Stedelijk Museum, Het Prinsenhof, Kersttenoontstelling: nederlandse meesters uit particulier bezit, 1952-53, no. 49;
Ijzendijke, Raadhuis, Hollands leven in de Gouden Eeuw, 1955, no. 49;
Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, Mens en Muziek, 13 July-1 September 1957, no. 56;
Voorschoten, Cultureel Centrum, 1960, no. 22;
Arnhem, Gemeentemuseum, 1960-61, no. 40.

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 work may have been fairly recently restored. The panel has an original vertical join running between the standing figure and the seated figures. This join is stable and has been reinforced on the reverse. The oak panel is otherwise unreinforced. It is flat and the paint layer is stable. Under ultraviolet light, retouches can be seen along the original join, but the condition is impressive throughout the remainder of the picture. The darker colors, shadows, and details are all beautifully preserved. The varnish is slightly uneven and the retouches are not effective as they could be, so a reexamination of the restoration may be advantageous.
"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."

In this classic genre scene, three men relax in a sparse interior as one plays his violin and the others jovially hold a pipe and vessels for drinking. The violin player gazes directly at the viewer with a broad smile, an outward invitation to the viewer and a clear demonstration of the merry mood. The artist has cleverly indicated that the scene is set in a basement or ground floor setting, as light creeps in beneath the floor boards above. 

This panel belongs to the small oeuvre of the rare artist Johannes Natus. Active in Middelburg, Natus is recorded as a member of the guild in that city in late 1661 or early 1662, and he appears to have specialized in genre scenes similar to the present example.