Jan Victors

Possibly, Sale, Amsterdam,1825, lot 88;
Girot, Antwerp, circa 1950;
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby Mak van Waay, 31 October 1967, lot 515 (as Vertumnus and Pomona);
With Hogsteder-Naumann, Ltd., New York;
Linda and Gerald Guterman, New York;
Their sale, New York, Sotheby's, 14 January 1988, lot 44;
There purchased by Dr. Hilary Koprowski. 

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985 (on loan). 

R. Roy, Studien zu Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, Ph.D. Dissertation, Vienna 1972;
D. Miller, Johannes Victors, 1985, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Delaware, pp. 178 and 303, cat. no. 67;
D Miller, "Ruth and Naomi of 1653; an unpublished painting by Jan Victors", in Mercury, 1985, cat. no. 2, pp. 19-28, reproduced fig. 1;
V. Manuth, "The Levite and his Concubine at the House of the Field Labourer at Gibeah: the Iconography of an Old Testament Theme in Dutch Painting of Rembrandt's Circle", in Mercury, 1987, no. 6, cat. no. 44, fig. 152;
W. Sumowski, Gemalde der Rembrant-Schuler, Landau 1983, vol. IV, p. 2607, cat. no. 1767, reproduced in color.

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 not have been recently restored, but it could easily be hung in its current state if it were very lightly cleaned and varnished. The lining is sensitive and effective. The paint layer, although textured, shows no real weakness and only a few isolated retouches. The condition and quality of the work seem to be particularly good.
"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."

Debra Miller, in her 1985 article and doctoral dissertation on the works of Jan Victors, suggests that the present painting (“one of Jan Victors finest works”) has a probable pendant in Victors' Esau and the Mess of Pottage in the Muzeum Narodowe, Warsaw. Of identical size and also dated 1653, she points out that there is not only a compositional similarity in the close-range, half-length figures, but a thematic similarity as well in the portrayal of, “the fundamental Old Testament theme of the propagation of the unaltered male line of descendency from Abraham.”

As Dr. Miller discusses, "Victors' specific episode of Ruth swearing her allegiance to Naomi is recounted in Ruth 1. The narrative tells of the relationship between Naomi of Bethlehem and her two Moabtite daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. After the three women became widowed, Naomi determined that her daughters-in-law should return to the homes of their mothers. Orpah departed, but the steadfast Ruth refused to forsake her mother-in-law. Naomi prodded: 'Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee... for whether thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God' (Ruth: 1:15-16)."