Old Master Drawings

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Lot 123
  • 123

Herman Saftleven

Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 USD
bidding is closed

Description

  • Herman Saftleven
  • two studies of peasants: a man playing a rommelpot, and an old woman carrying a basket and jug, with a large bunch of keys hanging from her belt

  • Both black chalk and watercolor, within black ink framing lines;
    the woman laid down on a playing card (the Two of Clubs);
    the man signed with monogram and dated: HSL / 1668;
    both bear numberings, verso (Goll van Franckenstein): N 332 (in brown ink), the man also 332 in pencil

Provenance

Jhr Johan Goll van Franckenstein (L.2987)

Condition

The man somewhat dirty, stained and rubbed. The woman with some surface dirt, and slightly rubbed down slight ridge in paper, center. But both still very legible, and colors not faded. Both stuck to a single mount, center of left edge, and sold in a modern frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

These two drawings, and the two in the following lot, can be linked to a small group of drawings of single figures by Saftleven, executed in this unusual watercolor technique, which are drawn on the back of playing cards.  Only one of the two in the present lot is actually on such a card, but the other corresponds exactly in conception and format, and may well originally also have been similarly laid down. The two drawings were, however, in their present, different states by the 18th century, when Goll van Franckenstein wrote his distinctive collector's numberings on the back of both sheets.

Whether Saftleven actually made these drawings to be used as a pack of cards is not clear, but they are all consistent in terms of size, compositional approach and technique, so perhaps they were.  Nonetheless, when Wolfgang Schulz wrote his 1982 monograph on the artist, he knew of only thirteen such drawings1: two of these are in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, while others are in Amsterdam, the Lugt collection in Paris and private collections.2  Perhaps surprisingly, the two examples illustrated by Schulz (his cat nos.1326 and 1327) in fact join together, to form a single landscape scene. 

The distinctive colouring of these "playing card" drawings is also very similar to that seen in the unusual, coloured drawing of a farmyard, by Herman's brother Cornelis Saftleven, sold, Amsterdam, Christie's, 10 November 1999, lot 323.

1. W. Schulz, Herman Saftleven 1609-1685, Berlin/New York 1982, cats. 1315-1327

2. Two of these very rare drawings were sold, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 4 November 2003, lots 68-69