Jacob Duck

Dutch art market, circa 1920 ;
J. Hecht, sale Charlottenburg, December 2-4, 1926, lot 98 (as "Art des H. M. Sorgh um 1650" [manner of H. M. Sorgh c.1650]);
Moritz and Ulla Rosenthal, Berlin, by 1934;
Forced sale of the Rosenthal collection, Berlin, Gerhard Harms, June 15-16, 1937, lot 97 (as Jacob Duck, with certificate by Wilhelm von Bode, dated September 13, 1924);
Anonymous sale, Cologne, Lempertz, November 14-17, 1956, lot 39;
Private Collection, Westphalia;
Anonymous sale, Cologne, Lempertz, May, 1992, lot 42;
Wwith Frye & Sohn, Münster, by 1994;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, July 7, 2000, lot 16 (withdrawn);
With Robert Noortman, Maastricht, by 2004.

N. Salomon, Jacob Duck and the Gentrification of Dutch Genre Painting, Ghent 1998, p. 153, no. 52, as present location unknown. 

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting on canvas is very fresh and in generally lovely condition. The canvas has an old lining which nicely stabilizes the paint layer. The paint layer is slightly dirty and the varnish is a little dull. If the picture were to be cleaned, it is unlikely that any significant or even insignificant restorations will be revealed as a result. When viewed under ultraviolet light, there are a few spots of restoration visible in the green dress of the woman playing the lute and in the upper wall above the door, yet these are extremely minor. There are no other restorations visible either under ultraviolet light or to the naked eye. Overall, this picture seems to be 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."

Jacob Duck was originally trained as a goldsmith, and began his studies as a painter with Cornelis Droochsloot at what was then the advanced age of twenty-one.  At that time, painting in Utrecht was largely the domain of the Caravaggisti, but Duck took a different direction, modelling his style on the works of the Amsterdam artists Pieter Codde and Willem Duyster.  He concentrated on contemporary genre, particularly guardroom scenes, and in his merry companies deliberately eschewed both the lower orders and aristocracy to portray the middle classes.¹ 

A Merry Company in an Interior is a perfect example of his lucid and controlled style.  The subject at first looks simply like figures relaxing around a table – drinking, smoking and playing music – but various elements of the composition, some subtle and others quite obvious, reveal the implicit sexual nature of the encounter.  The figures are set in a spacious but rather bare interior, at the center of which is a table with a large board for tric-trac, a game associated with idleness and deceit.  In the center foreground sits an elegantly clad woman strumming a lute.  While music can indicate love and harmony, the lute is also an erotic symbol, and here the woman's costume with its pearls and feathers suggests she is a courtesan.  We see her near-double, who wears a black cloak with a large lace collar over her green dress, at the left of the Card Players and Merry Makers, in the Worcester Art Museum.  The smoking cavalier seated at the left appears with a female companion resting her arm on his shoulder in Duck's guardroom scenes, including Interior of a Stable with Figures, in the J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville.²  Duck has dressed him up to suit the more refined company, adding a bright sash across his middle and a large plume in his hat.  He is seated alone, but any doubts we may have about his relationship to the luteplayer, are dispelled by the maid pulling the sheets up over the large bed at the right. Duck's controlled brush strokes and the muted palette mirror the restrained nature of this portrayal.  The work is datable to after 1650.⁴ 

This painting is being sold in cooperation with the heirs of Moritz and Ulla Rosenthal.

1.  N. Salomon, Jacob Duck and the Gentrification of Dutch Genre Painting, Ghent 1998, p. 108.
2.  Ibid., cat. no. 87, figure 19; others include cat. no. 3, 88 and 89.
3.  Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, art work no. 71910.