Nicolaes Pietersz. Berchem Haarlem 1620 - 1683 Amsterdam

J. Humphry Ward, England;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 9 December 1911, lot 86 (21 gns to Hughes);
Ofenheim;
Anonymous sale, Vienna, Kende, 21 October 1918, lot 4;
Jacob Reder;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 15 July 1960, lot 176, for 320 Guineas to Bostrom;
Anonymous sale ('the Property of a Gentleman'), London, Christie's, 11 July 1980, lot 51, where bought by the present owner for £5,000.

 

C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné..., vol. IX, London 1926, p. 269, no. 834a.

This genre-like portrait is rather unusual in Berchem's œuvre: Hofstede De Groot mentions only four, including the present one. It is however entirely typical of his few pictures with large-scale figures which are forceful and thoroughly baroque in character, painted with vigorous and free strokes of the brush that are analogous to his drawing style. The physiognomy of the young lutenist, with her wide cheekbones and facial characteristics softly modelled, is entirely characteristic of Berchem's female figures: to be recognised in his many small-scale compositions as well as his large-scale history paintings.