Jacob Duck Utrecht (?) circa 1600 - 1667

With Hickey Art Gallery, Detroit, 1950's, whereby purchased by the parents of the present owner.

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 panel is flat and cradled on the reverse, and the paint layer is stable. The painting has been quite recently restored and looks well as is. The paint layer has been cleaned, varnished and retouched. Retouches have been applied to the original join in the panel, which runs horizontally through the center of the picture. They have also been applied to address some thinness which has developed in some of the thinner, darker colors of the clothing and shadows in the background, and also particularly in the lower left. While the paint layer has become thin over time, the lighter colors are strong and the restoration is accurate. A new frame will present the picture well.
"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 the most successful exponent of the genre of guardroom interiors (cortegaerdje), where soldiers are depicted in the company of elegantly dressed ladies, often eating and drinking together in a highly social, merry setting. The genre originated in the 1620's in Amsterdam, where it enjoyed enormous popularity, its main exponents being Willem Cornelisz. Duyster and Pieter Codde. The latter's studio produced a number of very accomplished practitioners in the genre, Jacob Duck amongst them. Duck rarely dated his pictures, but the costumes and silvery tonality of this work suggest a dating to the mid 1630's.