Lot 165
  • 165

Dirck Hals

Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 GBP
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Description

  • Dirck Hals
  • An elegant company making music on a terrace near water
  • signed with monogram and dated centre right on the balustrade: DH 1627
  • oil on panel

Condition

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The oak panel is sound. The paint layer is stable although extensively retouched to disguise a thinned, abraded and sketchy surface. The varnish is slightly discoloured."
"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 the 1620s Dirck Hals' oeuvre was still dominated by colourful, elegant figure groups, in the style of Willem Buytewech (1591/2-1624), and he was still heavily influenced by his elder brother Frans Hals (1582/3-1666). Then, from circa 1630 onwards, Dirck's palette becomes more sober, and his figures less bold. A few other examples of Elegant musical parties on a terrace near water from the 1620s are known to us, and all are of larger dimensions; see, for example, the work sold, London, Christie's, 19 April 1985, lot 43 (signed and dated 1625), or another sold, London, Christie's, 21 April 1989, lot 32 (signed and dated 1621 (or 1627?).

In her monograph on Dirck Hals, Britta Nehlsen-Marten mentions a painting with the same composition and measurements as this work which was sold, London, Sotheby's, 11 June 1980, lot 102.1  The present lot, however, seems to be of superior quality to the aforementioned work.

1.  See B. Nehlsen-Marten, Dirck Hals 1591-1656, Weimar 2003, p. 269, cat. no. 44.