Hendrik van Limborch The Hague 1681 - 1759

Hendrick van Limborch;
His deceased's sale, The Hague, 17 september 1759;
Possibly George Watson Taylor, Cavendish Square, London (according to Hofstede de Groot, see literature);
Possibly his deceased sale, London, Christie's, 13 June 1823, lot 50, for £105 to Pares (?), as 'Adriaen van der Werff';
J.E. Fordham collection, London, by 1856, from whom purchased by Peter Dybwad, father of Gudny Dybwad, in 1905 (in arbitration of Dr. W. Bode, Berlin);
Thence by descent to his grandniece, Catherine K Dybwad, Leipzig, by whom donated to the present owner in 1989.

Possibly British Institution, 1821, no. 109 and 1856, no. 93 (according to Hofstede de Groot).

Possibly J. van Gool, De nieuwe schouburg der Nederlantsche kunstschilders en scilderessen..., 's-Gravenhage 1751, p. 390 and 398;
J. Smith, Catalogue raisonné..., vol. IV, London 1833, p. 207, no. 90 (with erroneous provenance); 
Possibly E.W. Moes, Iconographia Batava..., vol. II, Amsterdam 1905, p. 588, no. 8985.6 or p. 589, no. 8985.14;
C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und Kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der Hervorragendsten Holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, vol. X, London 1928, p. 282, no. 175 (with erroneous provenance);
Possibly  J.W. von der Pfalz, Adriaen van der Werff, exhibition catalogue, Munich 1972, p. 17, under cat. no. 12;
B. Gaehtgens, Adriaen van der Werff, Munich 1987, p. 374, under cat. no. 109, copy no. 2.

Before becoming a student of Adriaen van der Werff in 1699 in Rotterdam, Limborh had previously been a pupil of Jan-Henrik Brandon (died 1716), of Robert Duval in 1696 and of Jan de Baen (1633-1702) in The Hague. The portrait of Adriaen van der Werff that the infants are here seen decorating is adapted from Van der Werff's self portraits, one of which hangs in the Uffizi Galleries in Florence and the other in Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.³ In Van der Werff's own portraits however he holds up a miniature of his wife and children instead of the pencil that the grasps in the present work.

A note on the provenance:
The provenance of this painting has been long confused with that of others. In 1928 Hofstede de Groot listed the provenance as:

Presented by Adriaen van der Werff to Sir Gregory Page in Greenwich, 1699;
George Watson Taylor, London;
His sale, London, Christie's, 13 June 1823, for £105;
The Earl of Ashburnham;
His sale, London, Christie's, 20 July 1850, lot 43, for £126 to Nieuwenhuys;
J.E. Fordham collection, London, by 1856.

However, it is almost certain, given the description in the catalogue, that this painting is identifiable with that sold in 1759 at Hendrick van Limborch's deceased sale¹. Conversely, the description of the painting sold at Lord Ashburnham's sale in 1850 ("Portrait of the Painter, in a silk dress, holding a miniature of his wife and daughter, and his palette and brushes. This work was painted in 1699, and left by Van der Werff's will to his patron Sir Gregory Page") does not match the present work, and so that line of provenance can be removed.

As Gaehtgens (see Literature) suggests, a larger copy (81 by 66.5 cm), in which the artist is seen holding a portrait of his wife and children, is probably the work presented to Sir Gregory Page and subsequently in the collection of Lord Ashburnham; this work was dated 1699². However, she also includes the Fordham provenance which should in fact be associated with the present work.

The inscription on the reverse of this panel is thus likely to have been added some time after 1759 when it first changed hands and before 1823 when the Christie's catalogue entry seems to draw on the inscription. 

1. see Provenance and for the description see B. Gaehtgens, under Literature;
2. In 1727 Van Gool (see Literature) saw a copy by Limborch in Greenwich at the house of Sir Gregory Page but he does not provide a detailed description of the piece. Moes refers to this visit under no. 8985.14 (see Literature) but he too does not provide sufficient description to distinguish either work mentioned;
3. see B. Gaeghtens, op. cit., pp. 371-74, nos. 108, 109.