Jan Sluijters

Auke van der Werff B.V., Amsterdam
Collection De Cuser, Amsterdam

cfr: J. Havelaar, Jan Sluijters, afbeeldingen naar zijn oeuvre, Amsterdam 1919, p. 10, illustrated

Colours: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the blue is slightly deeper in the original. Condition: The work is in very good conditon. The paper is papertaped at the two upper corners to the mount. One very soft horizontal crease at the middle of the right edge and one tiny dent are both only visible on the reverse under raking light.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Jan Sluijters had an outstanding talent for making striking psychological portraits. He was superb in unveiling the sitter's character, but always in a friendly way.

In his time, Sluijters was the most sought after portraitist, especially amongst people who were successful in business, politics or theatre. The first models he used however were people he had a personal relationship with, like his first wife Bertha Langenhorst and later his second wife Greet van Cooten. These portraits were very spontaneous and intimate because, as opposed to the portraits he made in commission from 1912 onwards, he was free to paint what he felt. In his drawings of street and café scenes, like the present lot, he also sometimes used personal friends as a model and portrayed them in a relaxed and cheerful way.

Among the first portraits in oil were those of his collectors: Dr. Esser, the brothers Willem and Salomon Wolff Beffie and Piet Boendermaker.

In the present lot the figure in the centre shows a striking resemblance with Willem Beffie, as later portrayed by Sluijters in 1912 (see illustration). It shows us that Sluijters had a friendly, personal relationship with his client, while portraying him in such a casual way.

The brothers Beffie were ardent buyers of Sluijters' work. Between 1910 and 1914 they bought around twenty 'ultra modern' paintings and more than two hundred drawings, among which the famous 'Maannachten'. Their collection also contained important works by Van Dongen, Kandinsky and Jawlensky, and therefore it must have been an important source of inspiration for Sluijters. After the First World War their friendship watered down, as the brothers Beffie started to concentrate on buying work by Le Fauconnier.

Sluijters portrayed both the Beffie brothers in 1912, probably as a gesture of friendship instead of as a commission.