Aelbert Meyeringh, Jacobus Storck

Probably William Clutterbuck, Eastlington, Gloucestershire, or his son Richard Clutterbuck, circa 1700;
Thence by descent to the present owner.

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The original canvas has an old lining; there is a loss of tension, the paint layer is unstable and there are raised stretcher marks. There are two small recently restored damages visible to the centre and the lower centre. Under a very discoloured and degraded varnish can be seen some slight wear to the more vulnerable passages, particularly the rigging, the figures in the middle and fore grounds and the shadows of the boat hulls. Here the paint has been compromised, is a little thin and has been strengthened. Many of the remaining details are well preserved; the paint to the sky is in good condition and the texture, generally, is untouched with many passages in original condition. Removal of the varnish would substantially improve the tonality. Offered in an 18th Century carved gilt wood frame, with some damages."
"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."

The view looks across the frozen waters of the Nieuwevaart in Amsterdam and depicts in the centre the naval storehouse, the s' Lands Zeemagazijn or Admiraliteits Zeemagazijn, constructed in 1656 as a naval arsenal and storehouse. Beyond it stands the Oosterkerk, constructed in 1669-71 by the architect Daniel Stalpaert and later completed by Adriaan Dortsman.  Since 1973 the site of the Zeemagazijn has been occupied by the Scheepvaart or National Maritime Museum.

This is a very rare if not unique example of a collaboration between Meyeringh and the Storck family. The landscape setting is the work of Meyeringh, while the figures and very probably the details of the ships' rigging are by Jacobus Storck or his brother Abraham (1644-1708), who specialised in marine subjects. Very few examples of winter landscapes by Meyeringh have come down to us, for his oeuvre consists chiefly of classicizing italianate views based on a stay of over fifteen years in Italy. Of these only one incorporates urban scenery, namely a View of the Haarlemer Poort in Amsterdam, signed and dated 1699, formerly with Leonard Koetser in London, and in this the figures appear to be by Meyeringh's own hand¹.  Such collaborations were not so unusual for the Storck brothers, who worked with several other painters, including Meindert Hobbema, Jan Abrahamsz. Beerstraeten and Johannes Lingelbach. Abraham contributed the figures, for example, to Jan van Kessel's view of The Dam at Amsterdam of 1669 today in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin² and Jacobus the figures to Hobbema's Wooded landscape now in the Getty Museum. On the basis of photographs Dr. Pieter Roelofs has kindly suggested that the figures in the present work are closest to Jacobus Storck in style.

 

 

 

 

1. Photograph RKD, The Hague. We are most grateful to Drs. Marijke de Kinkelder for bringing this painting to our attention.
2. Reproduced in H. Potterton, Dutch Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Paintings in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin 1986, p. 74, no. 933, fig. 86.