Matthijs Naiveu

Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 28 October 1987, lot 113;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 13 December 2000, lot 46.

Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, 14 October 2006 - 21 January 2007; Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, 18 February - 27 May 2007; Kassel, Museumslandschaft Hessen, 21 June - 30 September 2007; Vom Adel der Malerei: Holland um 1700 (The Aristocratic Art of Painting: Holland about 1700), no. 57.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The canvas is lined and the paint layer is stable. The painting has been subjected to injudicious cleaning in the past and much of the original surface has been abraded, many of the delicate scumbles and glazes have been affected. This has not been helped by a filigree of pale shrinkage cracks that have broken up the surface. As a consequence much of the surface has been strengthened and augmented by restoration resulting, however, in a pleasing, colourful image. Offered in a gilt wood frame, in good condition."
"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."

This richly decorated interior, in which the characters appear to be enacting a scene from a play, is perhaps Naiveu's most successful work. With the daring repoussoir device of the ebony chair, which perpetuates the sense of depth, together with the sumptuous decoration not only of the room itself but of the characters' clothing, and the compelling interaction between the figures, Naiveu achieves an entirely individual effect which could never be mistaken for the work of another.

Naiveu in fact trained under Gerrit Dou in Leiden as his apprentice, having begun his career in the studio of Abraham Toorenvliet. He entered the guild of St Luke in 1671, and was dean in 1677 and 1678. Naiveu's earliest works, depicting typical Dutch genre subjects such as children blowing bubbles or market vendors, are painted and conceived very much in the manner of his master Dou and that of some of his fellow students such as Frans van Mieris the Elder. From the 1670s onwards however, he distanced himself from the example of his master, lending his works a greater extravagance and flourish that is altogether different from Dou's more simplistic conceptions. Works such as the present lot are strikingly original and do not seem to be born of any specific inspiration; they are unique to this most individual of painters.