Jacob Duck Utrecht (?) circa 1600 - 1667

Sir Charles Clore, London;
His sale, London, Phillips, December 10, 1985, lot 42, for £14,500;
With Bob P. Haboldt, New York, from whom purchased by;
Linda and Gerald Gutterman, New York;
Their sale, New York, Sotheby's, January 14, 1988, lot 10, for $143,000;
With Johnny van Haeften, London;
Private collection, U.S.A., from whom purchased by Noortman Master Paintings.

N. Salomon, Jacob Duck and the Gentrification of Dutch Genre Painting, Doornspijk 1998, p. 158, under no. 73, color plate III, fig. 10, reproduced on cover.

Jacob Duck specialized in guardroom paintings (kortegaerdjes), a type of composition first codified and made popular by Pieter Codde in the 1620's.  Duck often placed these scenes in grand settings, such as in this picture, where the sense of depth and grandeur of the rooms is emphasized by the highlighted small scale figures in the background, and metal still-life elements in the foreground.

There are many paintings to which the present lot relates in Duck's oeuvre in terms of composition, subject matter and mood.  Yet, this painting is exceptionally carefully executed, as well as being one of the largest known compositions of the master.  Moreover, the humorous element of the guards being robbed because they are asleep adds a didactic element in keeping with the moralistic tradition of painting in the Netherlands.