Jozef Israels

Goupil, The Hague (in 1893)
Goupil, Paris (transferred from the above in 1893 for shipment to New York)
Goupil, The Hague (returned to inventory in 1895)
Sale: Dresden, 1897
A. Preyer, The Hague (in circa 1909 and sold in 1910)
James G. Shepherd, Scranton, Pennsylvania (by 1916 and sold: American Art Association, New York, November 7, 1935, lot 74, illustrated and incorrectly dated)
Private Collection, Chicago

The Hague, Exhibition of Works by Living Masters, May-June 1893, no. 179 (as Eene Drentsche Madonna)
Dresden, International Exhibiton, 1897
Arnhem, Exhibition of Works by Living Masters, July-August 1909, no. 156 (as Drentsche Madonna, lent by A. Preyer)
 

 

De Nederlandsche Spectator, July 3, 1892, p. 243
A.C. Loffelt, ''Levende Meesters' in de Academie," Het Vaderland, August 6-7, 1893, n.p.
G.H. Marius, "De Driejaarlijksche II," De Nederlandsche Spectator, August 12, 1893, p. 255
A.S. Kok, Bredasche Courant, August 12, 1893, n.p.
D. v.d. Kellen, "Tentoonstelling van kunstwerken van levende meesters in het gebouw der Academie te 's-Gravenhage," Nieuws van de Dag, August 14, 1893, n.p.
"De Driejaarlijksche I," Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, August 22, 1893
Ph. Sadée, "Letter to the editor, June 18 1896", Het Vaderland, June 20-22, 1896
"De internationale kunstaustellung te Dresden," Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, July 9, 1897, n.p.
N.H. Wolf, "De Vierjaarlijksche te Arnhem," De Kunst, August 21 1909, n.p. 
F. Smit Kleine, "Levensfeer van Jozef Israëls en A.S. Kok," Eigen Haard, 1917, pp. 650-651

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. This canvas has been lined most likely in the last 50 years. The lining is quite competent. The paint layer is very dark at present and while it is presumably quite dirty, in this Israels particularly and in and other artists' work from this school, one does not necessarily look for great brightness of palette. There appear to be no restorations visible either under ultraviolet light or to the naked eye. It seems fairly likely that the condition is healthy and that the picture will clean to reveal a considerably brighter palette.
"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."

Upon seeing the present work at the 1893 Exhibition of Works by Living Masters, critics thought the artist titled it aptly—given that the coat-of-arms of Drenthe (a province in the northeast of the Netherlands) features a figure of the Madonna and Christ child emblazoned on its center shield.  But the artist himself was surprised by this suggestion (see: F. Smit Kleine, p. 650), and his title was most likely a coincidence or perhaps a reference to his famous The Cottage Madonna of 1867-70 (now at the Detroit Institute of Art). While The Cottage Madonna's symbolism is made somewhat explicit by the rosary hung above the mother holding her young child, the present work is more allegorical. Characteristic of his later works, Israels' painting focuses on the natural world with a soft and broadly handled brush that captures slender, silvery tree limbs, the soft brown feathers of scrabbling chickens, and graying sky suggesting that evening is about to fall.